From 2022–2025, See Stories partnered with Anchorage-based curator and educator Simonetta Mignano to lead the Zines & Dreams program with incarcerated youth at McLaughlin Youth Center in Anchorage. A zine is a DIY, low-key object that can hold deep meaning and both personal and collective value. Zines & Dreams was a multi-session art and literary workshop where each participant explored their dreams through zine-making. Simonetta guided the youth through various forms of dream-work, which were translated into zine formats. She invited masterful book artist Susan Joy Share to join the final sessions of the program to teach bookbinding techniques.

Here, Simonetta shares reflections on the three iterations of the program:

I designed Zines & Dreams to support youth in exploring their dreams—both oneiric and “real”—through zine-making. In each iteration of the workshop, over the course of a few weeks, participants developed their own zines—hand-bound booklets that held their thoughts and imaginings, expressed through various narrative and visual forms.

We shared dreams aloud and mapped them collectively. We created blackout poetry from a poem by Emmanuel Carnevali, read a letter Kafka wrote to a friend he dreamt of, and responded as if we were him. We titled our dreams and scratched the titles onto paper to make covers. We sketched our future dreams and talked about them. Dreams can be deep, scary, emotional, weird, fun—so the youth shared vulnerabilities and fears, listened to one another, sometimes cried, and often laughed.

There is value in considering our dreams—both present and future—in collectivity. We all dream under the same sky, and breaking down the walls between waking and sleeping realities is key to acce

 

ssing deeper liberation and healing. Many dreams were shared collectively, while others were expressed in writing or drawings during freeform creative time. We also practiced Deep Listening® in dreams. These exercises fostered the creation of individual dream-zines that were inherently connected.

Much of the work was beautifully raw and unfiltered—some funny, like one zine titled Can Penguins Fly?, and others poignant, like Dreams Can Fight. It’s oddly comforting to know how many of us have dreamt of being in a car wreck or running in slow motion while being chased, and the commonality of these themes that can help break isolation. And then there were very personal dreams that invited reflection, like falling off a roller coaster or becoming steam com
ing out of a pipe.

Future dreams were grounded: having a home, relationships, some money, and the ability to enjoy freedom. And I wish them well in fulfilling them. 

The final sessions of two workshops were dedicated to assembling and binding the zines into accordion-style booklets—an active format that surprises the viewer as it opens, stretches, and reveals its contents. This technique was taught by a wonderful artist, Susan Joy Share.

Reflections by Susan Joy Share:

I was honored to take part in Zines & Dreams and truly enjoyed working in the program. Simonetta and I met early on to discuss concepts, agree on the bookbinding style, and prepare paper for the zines.

I attended two final in-person sessions at McLaughlin. There were a dozen participants, and we sat in a circle. I distributed fresh materials for the session. Everyone chose from different colored papers, including a long strip to fold into an accordion and two covers. Our goal was to divide the strip into 16 evenly folded narrow panels and then add the covers.

Each participant had already created a series of detailed text and image pages with Simonetta earlier that week. We glued these into the accordion pleats. The students accomplished this beautifully. Many were self-directed, had inventive ideas, and truly made the books their own.

Once the binding was complete, they continued designing covers, writing titles, drawing, and coloring. They were engaged, supported one another, and most were eager to share their stories.

Participating youth in Zines & Dreams:

• Practiced various writing styles to creatively express themselves within the structure of a zine.
• Engaged in a supportive environment for socio-emotional learning, encouraging and assisting peers throughout the process.
• Practiced confidence in imagining and achieving their
  dreams.

These workshops were generously funded by the Alaska State Council on the Arts through the Cultural Collaborations Grant.

Special thanks to the staff at McLaughlin Youth Center for their support.

These programs were held in person and were only open to youth at McLaughlin Youth Center.

Instructors
Simonetta Mignano is a curator, educator, and organizer. Her practice is socially engaged, relational, and vernacular. She is the founder of the art gallery Bivy (Anchorage, AK). She holds a BFA in Socially Engaged Art from Goddard College and a Deep Listening® teaching certificate from the Center for Deep Listening at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Susan Joy Share is an Anchorage-based visual artist, bookbinder, and performer. She is known for her inventive, moving, and morphing book art, architectonic paper structures, and wearable books used in performance.