Iona Gibson

I have over 10 years experience in the creative industry, from exhibiting a series of artworks at The Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art (Qatar) in 2012 to co-hosting a DIY & Responsive Arts segment for Edinburgh Arts Festival 2022. However, my passions are deeply rooted in the zine community, which I have been encapsulated by and heavily involved in for the last 6 years - and that makes me a late bloomer! My love for zines began as a child, but I didn’t truly see the beauty and importance of zines until taking up an MA in Publishing at the University of the Arts in 2019. Since then, I have established a digital global archive of over 1,500 zines on DeZiners, successfully facilitated zine-making workshops across the UK via the Cut Out Club in partnership with St Margarets House, piloted the Circus Zine Fest Inverness 2021, and have since established the Highland Zine Bothy, Mainland Highlands first zine library, in collaboration with Circus Artspace. I am also a zine-maker myself, whose zines are catalogued at a number of major worldwide zine libraries and have been featured at Tate St Ives in 2022 and Tate Britain in 2023 as well as being archived in their special collections. Originally from Scotland, I am proud to be a 'third culture kid' having lived, worked, travelled and learned across four continents. It's a pleasure to be joining such an eclectic board, and I hope to contribute my wealth of cultural insight and experience to the mix.