DABF25 Workshop | Zine-Making with Mel Galley

In this practical workshop participants will make their own zines through folding and thread binding, whilst learning about zine making in the context of queer culture and ecologies! Throughout the session we will consider how this DIY form can be an open resource for sharing and archiving ideas and information, and what that means for our own stories. The workshop, led by artist and writer Mel Galley, is designed for anyone with an interest in LGBTQIA+ history, DIY publishing, or ecology and draws on Mel’s participation with the Balcony Project, a queer ecology group.

This adult workshop requires no previous experience, only an interest in learning about zine making (and getting a go at making your own)!

Participants are welcome to join Mel again later for the Zine Launch of There's no such thing as a house plant, and by the way nature is super Queer, designed Mel Galley and Louis Haugh for The Balcony Project at 2pm. Book here.

Mel Galley is an artist and writer who looks (mostly) at place, memory and speculative futures. Books and zines appear across Mel’s practice, from etched concertina’s spreading over three metres to writings held on a single folded page, taken by the viewer back into the city and landscapes they speak of. In 2020 Mel was awarded Young Cumbrian Artist of the Year and won the Judges Choice Award at this year's Dublin Fringe Festival for the remote artwork Holdings (created in collaboration with Clara McSweeney). Her artworks are held in the collections of the Bodleian Library (Oxford) and, more importantly, on the walls and bookshelves of strangers and friends.

The Balcony Project is an ongoing socially engaged art project, committed to the research of queer ecologies; a way of thinking about nature, place, and identity that challenges norms and offers alternative forms of coexistence in the world. Founded by visual artist Louis Haugh in 2024, the project is part of an ongoing series of socially engaged collaborations between Louis and Project Arts Centre, which began in 2022.

Event location Information: This event will be held in in a ground floor space artificially lit. Seating is available. For further accessibility information please contact Learning + Public Engagement Curator Órla Goodwin.

Dublin Art Book Fair (4–14 December 2025) is a centre for contemporary artist books offering a wide selection of artist publications and titles from creative, small and independent publishers, both Irish or international, to browse or buy. In conjunction with the Fair, DABF presents an event programme of book launches, publishers talks, and workshops offering ways to engage and gain insight into contemporary independent and arts publishing.

DABF25 is proudly sponsored by Henry J Lyons and supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and RTÉ Supporting The Arts.