We found Esther’s mini zine, Overheard-drawn recently at Vic, which was a very happy surprise! Obviously we think visiting our zine collection is the best way to get your zine fix, but second to that is randomly finding free zines around the place. Anyway, Carla recently spoke to Esther about the inspiration behind Overheard-drawn, so keep reading if you want to know more…

Hi Esther! Your zine is really cool, I like the fact that it feels a bit teen like and is really amusing. How did you come up with the idea of making “overheard-drawn”? Is it your first zine?

Oh thank you. I wanted it to be a bit fun and amusing. It is my first zine and the idea came from a previous studio project which i wanted to re-do. Using the zine format seemed a lot more appropriate for the subject matter of which I was drawing things I overheard and integrating them with the text of the quotes.

How and why did you choose the theme for “overheard-drawn”?

The idea started with eavesdropping and the random parts of sentences that you hear that are a lot of the time nonsense and amusing, and I wanted to illustrate those parts. With the zine I used the Victoria University’s overheard @ vic Facebook page to get the quotes and illustrated the ones that stood out to me, and half of them appeared in the next weeks Salient ‘overheard’ section as well. Using the quotes from Vic meant that I distributed the zine there too and when I get the time the 2nd edition will be put out there too! I’m planning to have a ‘do it yourself’ section in the next one so that people can have space to illustrate what they have ‘overheard’ and then leave for others to find. 

What other interests do you have besides making zines? Do you think these interests inspired or influenced you to make the zine?

I really enjoy drawing and reading when I have time. A lot of my work involves text with poems or quotes so I think that also drew me to zines, and because there are no rules it’s great. Some other influences are scientific plant illustrations which I really enjoy the detail of, Rita Angus has a series called ‘plant life’ which I like as well. And for something completely different I have been looking at an artist called Sophie Calle from Paris who works with photography, performance and installation. Usually her work is based on a specific site or person and I like the way in which she documents, records and presents her work. I really enjoy photography as well but mostly just for fun. My favourite camera would be my fujifilm instax mini polaroid camera that I have had since I was about 15. It takes credit card sized photos and as I tend to like everything mini sized it’s great.

Let’s learn a bit about you. Where do you originally come from? When and why did you move to Wellington?

I’m from Christchurch, I grew up there with my two older brothers and parents and had never moved house until I came up to Wellington. I left after high school in 2009 to start the Fine Arts Bachelor’s Degree at Massey which was both scary and exciting at the same time! But Wellington was very welcoming and it’s my second home now. I really enjoy studying and living in the city, being able to walk everywhere is great and I feel like I notice something new nearly everyday.

Now, we’d love to know about your favourite things! Would you be able to recommend your favourite:

book: Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
blog: Studio Home – it’s great to keep up to date with new Australian and New Zealand artists
illustrator: Shaun Tan
painter: Bill Hammond
game: Jenga and Mario Cart64
destination: Abel Tasman National Park at the top of the south island. (Any holiday destination really)
magazine: Frankie (we have it at the library, come and check it out!)

And finally, can you make us a mix tape please?