What is the Zine?

This page is dedicated to my zine, Original Sin. It is a multi-modal collage, incorporating art, quotes, and movie scenes to center around the theme of guilt and religion. Check out the "Media" tab to see where I drew materials from! This particular topic has interested me for a long time, especially its room for connection to a religious aspect. 

Background

Growing up Catholic, it is hard to remember a time when I have not felt guilty. The concept of “original sin” in particular fascinates/horrifies me: you are guilty because you were born guilty. Because of a story that has already happened, everyone in the future will become guilty. In this Zine, I draw from cultural materials that were almost ubiquitous at the time of their creation: namely, the Aeneid and Star Wars. How do these cultural objects interrogate the concept of guilt and fate? Is Aeneas truly to blame for Dido’s death, or was he just forced to follow his fate? Or was he guilty from the start, before he even left Troy? Was Anakin Skywalker ever truly an innocent child, reaffirming his humanity even as a slave when he tells Padme "I'm a person, and my name is Anakin!" Or was he always Darth Vader, simply because he was Darth Vader first? 

Conclusions

I encourage readers to draw their own conclusions from this piece, built on their own experiences and feelings. The nature of art is that there are many different ways one can interpret it, so I hope that readers can see their own struggles reflected in my Zine. I hope that this project can bring catharsis and a sense of not being alone, and will prompt readers to examine their relationship with religion and guilt. I also encourage readers to inspect every little detail and think about both the original and new contexts of each source material!