“Healing is a gift. What would you like to offer people?” A provocation from Handle with Care.

Handle With Care (2022) is a CuriousWorks anthology zine about healing, thriving and collective power. It was created through series of monthly workshops where participants gather and explore healing, thriving and power through different art-forms. Over the past few months, participants made collages, taken photographs, made playlists and played games. They’ve written letters, poems and short stories. All of them, participants and facilitators alike, are playing with new art forms while asking different questions like: 

“What does joy sound like?”

“When is it best to wield or yield your power?”

“What does the light at the end of the tunnel illuminate?”

Handle With Care was not intended as a lockdown zine. The first workshop was held at Fairfield PYT on June 1st, with plans to meet in person once a month. The July workshop was moved online, assuming everything would be back to normal by August. It was not.

Over the next few months, Handle With Care was created in a digital space of safety and connection. It became a creative outlet for participants to create art together, and remember that healing, thriving and collective power were still possible. We wrote more info on what the process was like here.

After the workshops, the collected artworks were then collated and turned into the beautiful Handle With Care zine. It was edited by Miranda Aguilar, designed by Huy Nguyen, and made with the mentorship support of Andrea Lim, Hon Boey and Emily Greenwood. The zine was printed by Eric Tieng and Kopo Studios, and debuted at the 2022 Other Worlds Zine Fair. You can read more about the debut on the blog post.

You can read the full Handle With Care zine online here. The work was highlighted by Fairfield City Council as a Creative Communities Case Study. You can watch facilitator Miranda Aguilar, and two of the participants, Shawn Spina and Tracy Guo, speak here.

Handle With Care is a CuriousWorks anthology project created through a series of experimental art-making workshops from June – November 2021. 

This collective zine and workshop series was made possible through funding from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and the Fairfield City Council Creative Communities Grant (formerly known as Social Change through Creativity). 

Handle With Care workshops were facilitated by Miranda Aguilar, with mentorship and co-facilitation assistance from Andrea Lim.

This zine was edited by Miranda Aguilar

This zine was designed by Huy Nguyen. 

Special thanks to Hon Boey and Emily Greenwood for your time and mentorship.

The Handle with Care artists are:

Zoe Tomaras

Tracy Guo

Sivani Yaddanapudi

Shawn Spina

Sandra May

Samantha Barahona

Saarah Hanif

Diego Murillo

Cristobal Olguin

Andrea Neely

Alexandra Olguin