W: How did you come up with this zine?
Jade Mordente: I was looking at my childhood and at what I felt like as a teenager. I suppose my very initial idea came from the perception of twisted romanticism. I used to be so intrigued by powerful yet dark love stories - the iconic relationship of Sid and Nancy for example, or fashion campaigns which glamourised loneliness and heartbreak. This sparked my early research for the zine, tearing away that glamour and prevailing something more forbidding. This then continued on and is shown through connotations attached to the fetish styling and sometimes alarming visuals. Also, when I was younger I felt like I had to conform in order to belong somewhere. So I looked at those who were totally against the idea of normal, I looked at the Riot Grrls and at girl culture and at what we can do of girl culture today. The zine built from there.
W: How was the format of the zine relevant? Your drawings and collages could have been exhibited in many different ways.
Jade Mordente: I felt like the zine really connected with where the ideacame from initially. I looked at the punk movement and obviously Riot Grrls was a huge part of that.
I wanted to refer to that a little bit and I felt that putting it in the zine format was the best way to do so. The copies are made of news paper. I wanted it raw, I didn't want it to meet the art standard. I don't think it would have looked good on a glossy magazine. I never imagined the work in an art gallery but rather in an underground kind of place.
W: In the spirit of giving away flyers at a punk gig?
Jade Mordente: Exactly. It's cheap and it is more for the voice. It is not meant to be pretty, it is meant to make it uncomfortable to look at.
W: How do aesthetic and content relate together? You seem to borrow from the punk movement but the content is very topical.
Jade Mordente: I wanted to keep it recognisable of what it used to be but to put it with new topics of what is relevant today. For example to speak about the neutral gender demand that is coming up within youth culture. I felt like it is something that should be talked about. The aesthetic makes you feel like you know it, like something you have seen before but the idea of the collage makes it very unique. I made all these pieces and I didn't know myself what it will look like. It is individual to me and it is individual to anyone.
W: Can you tell us more about the female figures that are featured in the zine.
Jade Mordente: The females are meant to be girls whom many girls can relate to. But the faces are covered because they should not be chosen for their feature. Initially it was meant to be completely female but then I decided I wanted to integrate this new idea of how youth culture is changing our gender boundaries so I got my friends on board. I photographed two friends of mine who are gender-neutral which would change the dynamic of the zine. I also interviewed them to get their perspective on the movement. The zine has 78 pages and there is also interviews with influential females at the moment such as the band Skinny Girl Diet or film producers Purple Milk.
W: What was your work process?
Jade Mordente: I got some models and order some clothes from fashion brands. We did twelve shoots altogether. I printed them all out then I drew and painted on top of them. I scanned them up and then repeated the process. I kept on layering and layering. It was a long process, it took maybe a year to make it. But I was very happy with the outcome of it.
W: Was the process of laying-out meaningful?
Jade Mordente: It was very meaningful. Initially I thought of doing it all digitally but I liked the feeling I got when I was doing it with my hands. I felt more connected to the work, it felt more meaningful to me because I was able to materially see how it looked and where it was leading to. It felt much more organic to do it that way.
W: Your work looks very alive indeed and you can really feel the step by step process.
Jade Mordente: It was heavily textured. As much I enjoy doing things digitally there is a totally different connection when you work with your hands.
All pictures are extracted from 'Lipstick'