Influenced by the punk movement, DIY and feminist activism, Helen Yeung founded Migrant Zine Collective in 2017 with the release of GEN M, a cut-and-paste zine that celebrated her Hong Kong-Chinese diasporic background and the stories of migrant youth in Tamaki Makaurau. While our collective started off by making small-scale community zines, over the years, we have expanded to facilitating zine workshops, community events, pop-up libraries, and submission-based digital collaborations locally and globally. The collective is currently co-organised by a passionate group of migrant women and queer people of colour.
At Migrant Zine Collective, we are dedicated to creating a space that challenges white-dominated power structures and allows people of colour to express themselves in unapologetic, critical and disruptive ways. Our community workshops, events and publications provide a platform for critical discussions. Topics covered include identity, intersectional feminism, migrational and diasporic experiences, decolonising food, Indigenous solidarities, sustainability, disability justice and movement-building. As tauiwi (non-Maori) people of colour living on colonised land, we are committed to confronting the ongoing legacy of colonisation, systemic racism, and racial politics specific to Aotearoa. We are further committed to understanding our positionalities as settlers of colour in the wider Pacific.
Our work is built on a collaborative effort and values of mutual respect, trust, and shared learning. We have partnered with a number of organisations and groups both locally and internationally to facilitate social change and build safer spaces for our communities. This includes Auckland Libraries, Shakti New Zealand, Mangere Arts Centre – Nga Tohu o Uenuku, Aotearoa Asian Arts Hui, Massey University, Mairangi Arts Centre, First Thursdays, Albert-Eden Local Board, NZ International Comedy Festival, Strange Goods, Te Manawa, Objectspace, Belong Aotearoa, and Shared Lines Collaborative. Internationally, we have worked with a number of organisations and groups, including Musubi Hong Kong, Kon Len Khnhom Art Space and Harvard Immigration Project. Our publications and pop-up library have been featured in countries such as Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Australia, Guåhan, Canada and the US.
Our work was inspired by Shakti Youth, a group of young people from Asian, African and Middle Eastern backgrounds passionate about social justice and building towards a violence-free future in Aotearoa and Mellow Yellow Aotearoa, a space which has existed since 2006 for Asian feminists to challenge colonialism, racism, sexism and all forms of unjust social hierarchy.
Migrant Zine Collective operates on a 100% volunteer-based model, relying on the passion and dedication of its members to continue our work. While we always aim to provide a living wage for the labour of our collective members and collaborators alike, community arts initiatives often face a lack of funding, making it difficult to sustain and continue our work. As a result, your generosity helps us achieve our goals and continue to amplify the voices of migrants of colour in Aotearoa and beyond. Your donations on Buy Me a Coffee help cover the costs of producing and distributing our zines and allow us to continue hosting workshops, events, and pop-up libraries that bring our communities together.