Gain Our Work Is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History Of Queer And Trans Resistance Prepared By Syan Rose Softcover

is basically a gigantic zine, The design has lates Olympia/Seattle/Portland vibes, It isnt an oral history so much as a collection of very short nonfiction essays by tons of different people, which is then illustrated by one artist.
Each essay is generally about what that person or that persons organization does and a bit of queer philosophising.


It was definitely cool to read about so many different kinds of people doing so many different things, but I didnt feel like it went very deep.
Like, it kind of felt like a quick business pitch or artist bio,

My favourite story by far was “Queer Muslim Family” by Mirna Haidar, which was about how to have a queer identity, a family that includes children, community, and fulfilling work all at the same time.

Heres a quote from that story:
“I feel like my principles of justice, which are about queerness as well as identity, are interesting to see play out with parenting.
”

What I was mostly disappointed about is the font, I understand the hand lettering was an intentional stylistic choice, Its what reminded me so much of zines, It is not easy to read though, Given the fact that this book claims to support those with disabilities, I am just really surprised that they would then make a design choice so exclusive of those with disabilities.


The art aside from the lettering was pretty fabulous though, The portraits in particular really brought out the stories, “when i say, our work is everywhere, i claim that the work thats needed to really change our world is the opposite of what most of us get a paycheck for: its the emotional support we give to others, its the meals we cook for each other, its the brilliant ideas we have, the jokes we tell, the hard conversations we engage in with ourselves amp others.
”

.stars. A beautifully drawn collection of interviews with queer and trans activists, The art style is very unique I did have some trouble navigating the text layout on occasion, not quite sure why, so I did have to back up and reread some pages to get the flow right.
This book was such a good idea, but the execution was not so great, This is astar collection withstar formatting,

Pros:
Cool art,
BIPOC voices highlighted
Look at past and current QTPOC projects,

Cons:
Formatting is rough: the text was done as art making is not lowvision or dyslexic friendly.



That's only one real con, but it's a big one, It took me so long to read this relatively short book because I kept going back and trying to make sure I understood the word on the page.
I appreciated the ones that included alternative reading options like signing, but in general the typography used was an inaccessible choice that hurt the book.


Titles like this are more than the voices and these are critical voices they are the media used to express and amplify them.
A sans serif read along side version or guide would have helped this so much and allowed them to keep the style and shape of the word art flowing in to the pictures in tact.
Wow! I was so captivated by this illustrated zineesq book, I read about: plant medicine, queer muslim families, childbearing, mutual aid, how cooking brings people together, different methods of care, queerness amp astrology, fat performance pieces, mental health, sex worker rights.
Reading Our Work is Everywhere, felt magical in the way that colors can make you feel, I wanted to take all of these drawings and put them on my walls, and remind myself of how there are so many ways of how to be, and how caring is such a multifaceted part of queer existence and resistance.
I feel like lately I've been reading books that made me feel more political, or want to be more political, or intentional, or whatever it is, and this was one of those books.
I will be giving this book to friends who care about the world, and how we show up in it.
i cried multiple times. so. fucking. powerful. queers are fucking amazing, yall, this is such a gift, there are a few spots where i struggle with the content politically the use of "womxn" for one, the majority focus on urban work minus one perfect rural mutual aid section for another but i really think that's part of what makes this so important.
the queer and trans "communities" are not singular they are built up of many communities and many opinions and endless intersections of identity and proximity to power.
thank you so much for this, i will keep coming back to it over and over, Genuinely one of the most important books Ive ever read, I cant say enough good things about it, its truly incredible, I don't really want to rag on this book, I appreciate the value of its process and the effort to create it, The passion and the struggle comes through strongly, The varied visions for creating a life in response to the needs and barriers facing individuals and communities is inspiring.
The artwork is affecting, it suits the stories well,

That being said, this work may have been stronger with a little more editing, Their goal was to create a showcase of the multiplicity of queer experiences not a distilled essence, but it felt like up to half of almost every story felt like the same ideas expressed in the same way.
Some could read this as reinforcement or resonance, but for me it just felt homogeneous, It felt like that half was perhaps what the author most directly related to, and maybe was drawn to these contributors by.


The other thing that struck me was how much it felt like a single perspective, despite the many interviews, because the oral history format was not used to give multiple angles on the same events but rather separate accounts of nonintersecting events, and the various speakers talked about their separate experiences in such similar terms.
The result of this is a book less about the actual work of living and fighting for queer people and more about what it feels like to do different kinds of work for different people within these communities.
Which is a valid topic for a book, But as described, I was hoping for and expecting to hear a lot more about the wider scope and context of these projects, maybe any sense of projects that build on one another, and a more comprehensive sense of the history of queer resistance.
It might more accurately be called: "Our Work Is Everywhere: Sketches from Lives in Queer and Trans Resistance".
That feels like what this book is actually seeking to be, I would still give that bookthough, Some of the colors were very difficult to read, I had to get through this a few pages at a time, However, I love the inclusivity of this book and all of the perspectives are so valuable to read and be able to understand.
I highly recommend this

book, It's refreshing to see a work such as this being released outside of the traditional structures of text.
This collection of essays, poetry, work, and beyond written by trans, queer, non genderconfirming BIPOC folk is clearly such a labor of love.
The work in this book demonstrates how communities are not monoliths and how individuals are never really working on any one thing in a vacuum.
More, this collection really demonstrates how much work is being invisibalized by the current systems of power that devalue it largely because of the hands performing that work.


While I found some of the writing difficult to read its all handwritten and free form, it largely didnt detract me from reading.
Though, I understand that it could be a challenge for others,

Overall, I would recommend reading this collection, It provides an overview of important work being performed in largely urban areas by trans, queer folk of colour that is unfortunate not always legible or observable otherwise.
This was absolutely stunning.pages of sheer brilliance. Check out my full review in my newsletter: sitelink substack. com/p/ I'm struggling with how to rate this,

From the perspective of what the book is about and the interviews, essays, and poems it contains, this is everything you could ask for.
I was a little surprised to see the use of "womxn" but I don't think what I will call am editorial oversight, detracts from the overall book.


Where I stumble is the presentation, The illustrations are gorgeous and the care and effort that was given to make each contributor's piece unique and stand out is evident.
However, the choice to go with a handwritten font left a lot of the text difficult to read.
I understand that this decision was likely made for aesthetic cohesion, but I often had to squint to make out words, which was further exacerbated by poor contrast on some pages.


Ultimately, it's obvious that this book is a true labour of love and also an important text for those looking to learn more about folks who are leading lights of queer and trans resistance.
On the whole, this book covers some really important topics and is obviously a creation of love and passion.
I really enjoyed the art style as well,

With that being said, the pieces/interviews seemed way too short and cramped, What the speaker was saying to the reader ended up getting lost a lot of the time in the art and in the hastepages per person/interview of the piece itself.
I wanted to dive into this book but instead it felt like i was getting magazine headlines that led me nowhere because then the piece was over.


Overall beautiful, important, but missed the mark for me just a little bit in its attempt to fit so much into so little.


EDIT:

I forgot i wanted to keep track of my favourite pieces and let you all know what they were if you decide to read this!

my favourites were:
“Queer Muslim Family”
“The Wild Hunt Ride”
“Martial Arts is the Most Fluent Asian Language I Speak”
“A Poem for my Ama”

also special mention to “Ita” for having a QR code for the ASL translation! This is a lovely and powerful illustrated collection of interviews with people in queer and trans communities working to build a better world for LGBTQIA communities.
Overall this was a beautiful collection of people doing diverse and important work mostly in urban American settings.
I really liked reading about organizations and people that might not be very publicized so I might never hear of it.
It's definitely not an "oral history", I would treat it more as something you readarticles at a time over an extended period of time.
It would also be a good stopping off point, to learn about different issues and movements that are happening then doing your own research to learn more.
I would have really liked if they did a few less articles in more detail, there were some stories that were so unique and inspiring but I did not get to learn much about it.
It also needs a more readable font style the art was beautiful but some honestly gave me a headache to try and read some of it.
I loved both the content and the artwork, but its worth noting that the way the text was incorporated into the artwork sometimes made it difficult to read.
A collection of beautifully illustrated conversations with people on the topics of queer and trans resistance, in which 'resistance' is defined in the widest terms possible.




This is not an 'oral history' as the title says it is, you won't find a concise look at the history of queer and trans resistance.
What you will find is diverse conversations with trans and queer people how they have handled living in a society that actively others them.




I'm a middleaged cishet white guy, the bread and butter of this society, and one way I feel I can educate myself is by reading these alternative narratives, open my eyes and ears to the lives of trans and queer people.
This book feels like a perfect starting point,



The illustrations are beautiful, and add so much emotionally to the stories told.




Thanks to Arsenal Pulp Press for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss.