Zine Review: Polar-Centric Constellations of the Northern Hemisphere

ZINES_Polar-Centric-Constellations

Artzine, Katherine Diemert, katherinediemert.tumblr.com, price not listed

The ‘reference zine’ combines the qualities of a reference book with the qualities of a zine, however jumbled and peculiar those may be. They are a rare find, but it is ever rarer to find one put together quite so well as Katherine Diemert’s Polar-Centric Constellations of the Northern Hemisphere. Diemert sets out to detail “these five constellations, [which] viewed when in the northern hemisphere, never set, and are therefor[sic] seen year-round.” The zine is as simple as that: five constellations with their corresponding names, diagrams, and abridged mythologies. Each constellation is completed on its opposite page with an ethereal sketch of its fictional form. The images are as ambitious as they are grandiose. The idea is simple, the layout is simple, the performance is simple, and this is where Polar-Centric Constellations finds its strength. Diemert is aware that a little coptic hand-stitching and some heavygrade construction paper make a difference that no amount of clutter can imitate. She has crafted a zine I’ll return to, and her work is an encouraging reminder that ‘amateur’ does not have to mean ‘poor quality.’ If anything, she argues quite the opposite. (Joel W. Vaughan)