My zines are personal stories, weaved together through creative writing, photography, painting & illustration.
A personal reflection of experiencing fat shaming, navigating my body and living with binge eating disorder. As I began discovering body positivity and fat acceptance, I learnt to embrace my body as it is, and questioned the systems of the world that taught me to loathe it.
2018-2021
digital illustration, ink, creative writing
8.3 x 5.7 inches
An Affair With Food
Time Is Split Between Our Searching & Mourning
A poem I wrote reflecting on the state of affairs across global politics in October 2018, as fascism was rising across the globe, coupled with black and white photographs shot across London, India, & Singapore between 2018 and 2019.
2018-2021
Photography, poetry
8.2 x 5.6 inches
Arambol Fish Market
A series of photographs taken during a visit to the Arambol Fish Market, accompanied by one-liners capturing fleeting moments and stories from the market and its people.
2022
Photography, writing
7 x 5 inches
A Motherland I Could Have Known
An essay exploring my longing for Sindh, my ancestral homeland in Pakistan: one of the few provinces not divided during the 1947 Partition, where Hindu Sindhis were rendered homeless through forced migration and the violence that followed. As I speak with different family members, the narrative is woven through reflections on memory, sensation, and thought; accompanied by digital illustrations and abstract art.
2021-2022
Creative writing, digital illustration
8.2 x 5.6 inches
A Love Letter To My Body I Wish I Read Growing Up
A poem written in 2018, paired with photography, painting, and digital illustration. It explores body image and the journey toward self-acceptance in a world that thrives on women’s self-doubt and insecurity.
2018-2022
Photography, collage, digital illustration, poetry, painting
7 x 5 inches
Coming Out [Where Am I Going?]
A piece of writing accompanied by digital illustrations and abstract art, this zine is a meditation on coming out as a never-ending journey—tender, tangled, and sometimes heavy. It explores queerness, shame, safety, and the complexities of visibility in a world that insists on putting us into boxes.
2018-2022
Digital illustration, poetry
7 x 5 inches
An Evening With Starfish
A poem accompanied by black-and-white photographs of starfish, taken during a single walk along the beach on November 7th, 2022. This zine is a gentle meditation on surrender, resilience, and the unexpected journeys we find ourselves on in life.
2022
Photography, poetry
7 x 5 inches
Trigger Warning
A raw and intimate zine exploring the experience of remembering being sexually abused as a child - memories that resurfaced in my early twenties. Through poetry, prose, painting and digital art, this piece is a layered reflection on grief, pain and the journey of healing.
2018-2022
Ink, digital illustration, poetry, prose
7.8 x 5.9 inches
How I Inherited The Habit Of Burying Sadness
A poetic essay written during the Covid pandemic, exploring intergenerational trauma and my inherited habit of burying sadness, paired with digital illustrations.
2021-2023
Creative writing, digital illustration
8.2 x 5.6 inches
An Ode To My Anger
A poem exploring the often misunderstood emotion of anger - paired with illustrations and watercolour paintings. A tender ode to the power of feeling fully.
2023
Poetry, digital illustration, watercolours
7 x 5 inches
On Loving & Love
A collective remebering of love. I asked friends, family, and strangers questions about what love meant to them - what they believed about it growing up, and how they see it now. Their responses, woven together with my own musings, form a zine that reflects on one of the most enduring and complex theme of our lives.
2023
Digital illustration, prose
8 x 5.7 inches
Wildflower
A poem about wildflowers, resilience, and possibility, paired with photographs taken on slow, flâneur-like walks. This zine reflects on how beauty and hope persist, even in the difficult, most chaotic times of our lives.
2023-2024
Photography, poetry, digital illustration
6.8 x 6.8 inches
Funeral Of The Skirt
A personal written reflection on grief, attachment, and impernanence; told through the story of a beloved purple paisley skirt, accompanied by intimate photographs.
2024
Photography, prose, creative writing
8.2 x 5.6 inches
Ten Things I Learnt From My Dada
A continuously ongoing piece of work, each zine is hand-painted and handmade. Over 30 have been made and sold so far. This zine explores ten life lessons I learned from my Dada - my paternal grandfather; woven from memory, grief, and the pages of his journals I read after he passed away.
2024
Watercolours, ink pen, written word
4.1 x 2.9 inches & 5.5 x 3.5 inches
All my zines are available for sale. If you are an individual wanting to purchase my zines or an indie bookstore, cafe or library space that would like to stock my zines please email me at hansikajethnani@gmail.com or DM me on Instagram - @hansikajethnani