ZINES AND SELF-PORTRAITS WITH LYDIA THORNLEY

How did you get here? What does a day in your life look like? How would you introduce yourself to someone from the future?

These were some of the questions that opened a pair of illustration workshops we held on 26 October 2025. In two separate workshops, participants either created mini zines or self-portraits to be placed in the Alice Billing House Time Capsule, to be opened 80 years from now.

Making and Storytelling

In the zine-making workshop, attendees explored how layout and format can help tell a story. They learned how to create two styles of zine from simple A4 sheets of paper, while also sharing knowledge about the history and evolution of zines as a form of self-expression. Using different materials, participants sketch a slice of everyday life in 2025.   

During the self-portrait workshop, participants produced postcard-sized portraits framed by folded borders that could hold a caption. The session invited reflection on what a self-portrait can be; from literal likenesses to abstract representations, and used an array of mirrors and materials to encourage experimentation.

Creativity in Every Form

Each participant brought something unique to the table. For some, the workshops offered a moment of calm and focus; for others, an opportunity to experiment and discover. Whether they came from creative backgrounds or entirely different walks of life, everyone contributed their own stories and perspectives through the things they made.

Together, these zines and self-portraits will become part of Alice Billing House’s ongoing story, a collection of creative voices waiting quietly inside a time capsule, ready to be rediscovered by a future generation.

"I love that in a workshop, everyone produces something different. People bring themselves to the stories they tell and the things they make. I wonder what people will make of us 80 years from now?"  Lydia

Portrait workshop photography © Monika Szolle Branding

Zine workshop pictures by Lydia Thornley