Mission

Press Press is an interdisciplinary publishing initiative that aims to shift and deepen the understanding of voices, identities, and narratives that have been suppressed or misrepresented by the mainstream. Through an understanding of publishing as the action of gathering a public, Press Press builds cooperative and collaborative networks of relationships using publishing practices centered in self-representation and conversation. Often focusing on the intersection of immigration, race, and power in the United States, Press Press’s streams of work have included public cultural programs and exhibitions, youth publishing workshops in immigrant- and refugee-only spaces, and the ongoing production of publications. Press Press operates out of a storefront studio and library in Baltimore, Maryland and a production space in Los Angeles, California.

Vision

Press Press’s work pushes for a culture that values and learns from the lives, minds, and experiences of communities whose voices have historically been suppressed or misrepresented by the mainstream, calling on our society at large to rethink the ways we interact with others in the world. Through this work, we are building a supportive community that enables us to thrive.

Core Values

• Self-Representation and Autonomy
• Collaboration, Co-Authorship, and Reflexivity
• Embracing our Differences and taking an Intersectional Approach
• Transparency, Accountability, and Solidarity
• Cultural & Educational Experiences, Conversations, and Gatherings
• Empathy, Joy, Growth, and Freedom

Collective Structure & Organizers

Press Press is a fluid and reflexive network of co-authors and co-organizers. Depending on the project at hand, there may be anywhere from 1-45 people involved at a time and at various levels of capacity; from authoring publication chapters and library sections, speaking at an event, organizing a party, and more. Since we understand Press Press as a collectively-built and reflexive structure, we see all individuals and groups who steps into the project as crucial members of our team. However, there are some consistent behind-the-scenes organizers that make up our core team.

Core Team

Kimi Hanauer
Founding Editor & Organizer

Bomin Jeon
Organizer & Baltimore Studio Facilitator

Valentina Cabezas
Organizer & Baltimore Studio Facilitator

Bilphena Yahwon
Organizer & Baltimore Studio Facilitator

Eleni Agapis
Designer & Digital Engineer

Rahul S. Shinde
Digital Engineer

Samiha Alam
Social Media Special Projects Coordinator

Ayaka Takao, Bokeum Jeon, Georgia McCladish, Luz Orozoco, Markelle Cullins & others!
Book Fair & Programming Team

History

In 2014, Press Press started its partnership with Baltimore City Community College Refugee Youth Project by holding creative writing workshops with a group of teens in Catonsville, Maryland. When starting to publish the work of our collaborators, we realized we needed to give our initiative a name, and so, Press Press was born. Since then, Press Press has broadened its activities beyond youth programming. However, our youth workshops have continued to be a large thread of our practice as we carry the principles the program was initiated with throughout all of our work: embracing collaboration, self-representation, and difference.

Public-Making as Publishing

Through an understanding of publishing as the act of gathering a public, Press Press’s streams of work include public cultural programming, an open-access publishing shop and library that’s based on an Exchange Economy, publishing workshops in a refugee and immigrant only space, and the production of print and digital publications.

The Press Press Library

The Press Press Library is a collection of resources and publications that were recommended and thematically organized by more than 35 individuals, collectives, and organizations throughout 2016-2017, each of which selected a range of resources they deemed most essential to their practices. While the collection was mostly created through a local contingency, it also works in conversation with a national network of artist-organized initiatives. Located in Press Press’s Baltimore store-front, the library was created as a way of collectively molding the culture of the space, holding Press Press’s work accountable to its context, and building on our approach to publishing. Press Press also houses The Contemporary's collection of artist books and magazines.

Press Press Young Scholars

Through a partnership with Baltimore City Community College Refugee Youth Project since 2014, Press Press hosts publishing workshops with teen refugees in an immigrant and refugee only space. The space is designed to counter the standard model of ESL (English Second Language) learning. The standard model operates in a way that erases or ignores the identities of the learners in an effort to fit them into the hegemonic linguistic mode of the United States. The collaborative space we’ve created, conversely, places the identities and narratives of the participants as central in the experience of learning and using English; or learning how ‘to be’ in English as one’s second language without erasing one’s native voice. For example, we regularly print poetry in the exact form it was written, without ‘correcting’ for grammar and spelling. The aim is to affirm the ways participants express themselves in this linguistic medium. In Spring of 2018, we expanded the program to hire youth as professional writers and artists creating content to be published by Press Press.

Exchange Economy

With Press Press’s Exchange Economy (EE), anyone can learn how to self-publishing their work in our studio, in exchange for any contribution to the broader project. Through the use of time-banking, EE cultivates new programs, resources, workshops, and relationships in our storefront space, while building a community of new and experienced independent publishers. Participants only pay for the use of materials at cost and can choose to participate in one-on-one learning with a member of our team during our weekly open hours.

Print & Digital Publications

Press Press publishes a range of print and digital publications that give form to our programmatic and ethereal practice. Our collaborative process often takes upwards of a year to complete one compilation and emphasizes social gathering as a primary mode of the work. Our publications vary widely in form, although we are keen to collaborative manifestos, compilations of texts and conversations, and artist projects. By annually participating in the art book fair circuit, including Printed Matter’s New York Art Book Fair and Los Angeles Art Book Fair, Chicago Art Book Fair, and others, we circulate our publications across the United States.

Press Press publications can be found in the library collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art (NY), The Museum of Modern Art (NY), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA), The University of Florida (FL), The George Peabody Library (MD), ACRE Projects (IL), Wendy’s Subway (NY), and the John M. Flaxman Library at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (IL). They can be found for sale at Mount Analogue (WA), Printed Matter (NY), Pioneer Works Books (NY), and on our online store.

Our Approach

We always prioritize process over product. This means we spend a lot of time developing relationships and building community through the collaborative projects we initiate, as well as continuing to revisit and refine the types of processes we undertake. We aim to thoughtfully navigate tender and ethical collaborative processes that are mutually beneficial to all involved.

Programming Rubric

We know our work is on the right track when it does the following:

• Building meaningful relationships and community.
• Surfacing narratives that have historically been suppressed or misrepresented by the mainstream.
• Cultivating intentional spaces of meaningful and open exchange of ideas and experiences.
• Developing nuanced language around race and immigration that encompasses a wide set of identities and experiences.
• Creating moments of collective joy.
• Creating practical tools, models, and methodologies from our work.
• Building fluency in the knowledge and tools needed for self-publishing.

Manifesto for Tender Collaborative Work

Produced in collaboration with Jenna Porter, Iris Lee, and Shan Wallace, our team developed a manifesto for tender collaborative practice that we hold closely throughout every facet of our work. Rather than a cemented series of rules, we understand this set of guidelines as reflexive, transitory items that are open for interpretation, in relationship to the project at hand. With that said, our collaborative approach tends to follow the principles outlined below:

1. Embrace and support one another fully. You are at your best when you feel accepted.
2. Don’t compartmentalize. Be yourself and bring that into the work.
3. Mold the structure of your work around the people who are part of it.
4. Be tender to your collaborators identities, experiences, and daily challenges.
5. Know what is going on in your collaborators lives. Don’t assume your project is their priority at all times.
6. Universal love. Pick up the extra slack when needed.
7. The product is never more important than the process or the relationship.
8. Embrace difference! We are different, let’s address our differences directly.
9. Paid time. Creative freedom. Femme-centric space.
10. Trust the process and trust the people. Make space for each other’s quirks.
11. Know and embrace your own subjectivity. There is no such thing as being objective.
12. No Hierarchy. No one should have more control than someone else.
13. Let go of control and try stepping into a supportive role.
14. Let yourself be vulnerable.

Sustaining our Practice

Press Press is supported by individual and crowd-sourced donations, community volunteer labor, and through a generous grant from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.

Press Press Young Scholars was supported by the Grit Fund, a Regional Regranting Program administered by The Contemporary and funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

We also support our mission by offering our services for hire. Please reach out to us if you are interested in:

• Publication Design Services
• Educational Workshops
• Project Consultation
• Speaking Engagements
• And more, we're open to your ideas!