Transmission: Luna Zine

By Jason Fox

As a designer and maker of things (including photographs), naturally I collect and accumulate stuff all the time. What surrounds me in my life and in my home informs my practice. Over time I’ve ended up with deeper collections of certain artists’ zines or types of knick-nacks [sic]. The thing I collect most is probably zines––the zine I have the most issues of is Lele Saveri’s Luna.

Lele Saveri is a longtime friend and one of the founders of 8-Ball Zines as it was called when I found out about it and got involved (now more commonly known as 8-Ball Community). Since we met, a lot has changed, 8-Ball morphed into a 501(c)(3) and Lele stepped down to help guide the organization into a more horizontal structure to be run non-hierarchically by the many volunteers that make it up. But he still makes zines.

Since before I met him, Lele has been making a monthly photo zine called Luna. On each new moon, he gathers his photographs from the month prior and assembles a booklet that feels like a diary of sorts. More often handed out to friends than sold in stores, Luna feels like an organic catalog of what happened since the last new moon––both in general and in a deeply personal way––both to the photographer and the “reader.” 

The way I approach my own photography is as an archive. Each photograph I take has behind it the intention to capture a moment in time that is either significant only to myself or to strangers or to the community of people I find myself surrounded by (hopefully all 3). Unsurprisingly, the photographers I admire tend toward the same direction––one of whom is Lele. To me, one trait I look for in what I feel is “good” photography is that though it is captured by one person, it can serve as a wide-reaching archive of sorts that preserves memories and feelings for many––even those who may never even see it.