Great and Grand

This issue, number five 5, of Paper Cuts revolves around a discussion with multimedia and civil rights zine gurus Sy Abudu, Paul Moreno and Sherley Olopherne who explore common themes affecting their three personalities include African-American identity, gay culture, and visibility in marginalized communities.

Sy Abudu is from Los Angeles and lives in Brooklyn, where she creates visual art and zines under the moniker great/grand/golden. Her work, which has been shown at the Black Lesbian DIY Fest, the Feminist Zine Fest, and the Allied Media Conference, features archival images from the Library of Congress "remixed" into new pieces that explore themes of visibility, African-American identity, and relationships through the lens of historical imagery. Sy earned her BFA in film & television from NYU, where she now works as a multimedia producer.

Paul Moreno, a former NYU student, gallerina, home-maker, and, most recently, set and prop stylist, is a self taught visual artist. He makes drawings, paintings, and zines that deal with sexual positions, tropes of masculinity, and notions of beauty, and, in collaboration with Charlie Welch, is the creator of KNOWSGAY, a zine that takes an artistic approach to gay iconography. Paul lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Sherley Olopherne is a photographer that engages mainstream communities in a dialogue about what immigrant, dyke, and various marginalized communities look like. She has volunteered at the Lesbian Herstory Archive and is the organizer of the Black Lesbian DIY Fest.

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