“I like to introduce myself as a creative type of human in the sense that I like to be involved in different kinds of creative projects, whether that be creating for myself or creating a space for community or nurturing someone else’s creative endeavors. So, I find creativity isn’t just about the production of an object or creating an artwork.
It’s also about fostering a space for either myself or someone else or a larger group of people.
Do It For The Grain is definitely a creative endeavour I’m a part of where I’m not necessarily always sharing my own photographs, but it’s something that I like to contribute to because for me, it’s really important for film photographers to get to know each other. And I think why that’s important is because I notice a pattern with visual artists. We can be introverted sometimes, and we don’t necessarily open ourselves up to other ways of thinking or other ways of seeing. And I think the simplest way to do that is to just meet another person.
My role with Do It For The Grain is I do community outreach and education. My goal is really to connect photographers to each other and connect photographers to their work as well. Some programming that we’ve done in the past or that I’ve facilitated and organized in the past is Photo Review Club.
That was a space where people brought in an image or two, and it was open to feedback from other photographers, and they got to share feedback.
Do It For The Grain is an independent publication. We’re called Do It For The Grain Zine, and it started five years ago. Essentially, it’s a zine for film photography lovers.
It started off as a purely black-and-white film photography zine, and then a few years later on, it opened up to colour film.
And I really see the zine as a love letter to film photographers in Ottawa, and it’s anywhere from the hobbyist who picked up a camera at the thrift shop to the established photographer who has a show in a gallery.
We do an annual exhibition to celebrate the milestones of the zine. We just celebrated our fifth year anniversary, which was a major milestone for us.
And right now, we have an exhibition called Memento.
It exists in two spaces right now. It’s both at Arlington Five at Bank and Arlington, and also at Knyota Non-Alcoholic Drinks at Bank and Albert.
And part of the reason why we divided the show into two spaces is because we got so many submissions, and also we really wanted to show as much as we could, of everyone who’s contributed to the zine.
So far, five years is a memorable milestone.”
Mai-Lan Tomkins @mlmjt : Community Outreach, Do It For The Grain Zine
