Annotated Readers

The Annotated Readers compiled reprinted queer/Asian archival materials, sourced from 7 repositories across the US, and passed among annotators in community for 3 rounds of conversation between the lines / along the margins. The mechanics of riso-printing make layering formally necessary, a process that has guided FORTUNE’s politic of production. We layer experiences, both critical and celebratory, so information may be contextualized, and exchanges may build.

The Annotated Readers were first circulated as part of the Many Folds Press Mail Library, along with two new works developed from an open call — through a free lending model. The intent of the Mail Library was to increase the visible documentation and distribution of materials extending a long lineage of ancestral, social, and received knowledge, and to activate them by facilitating continued conversations among local networks — spreading information, while keeping it dear.

The Annotated Readers continue to circulate, for free, for two-month lending periods. They have been used as tools in classes and workshops. And most recently, they have been exhibited as part of Crescendo: How Art Makes Movements (1981-1999) at Asian Arts Initiative.