The first piece in this issue of Minutiae discusses Aijung Kim’s decision to move across the U.S., from Portland, Oregon to Richmond, Virginia. So, starting out, one might guess that this zine would be a travel diary following Aijung and her boyfriend on this journey as they settle into a new place and get acquainted with their surroundings. But Minutiae is much less structured than that.
Instead of taking a week-by-week or month-by-month look into Aijung’s life as she adjusts to a new city, we flow through this zine’s 19 pages experiencing small moments with her, including sharing in her dream about saving baby deer from falling through a frozen lake, the joy she and her boyfriend get from the homemade peanut butter cups at a local coffee shop and her anxiety over putting all of these stories into this zine.
But then, I guess the title alone hinted towards this structure. Minutiae dwells in the moment, not only through Aijung’s written observations (like her recounting of a night when a storm knocked out the power and she got to enjoy a slower-paced life than she does when her house is aglow with technology), but mostly through her detailed illustrations that accompany each page. On some pages the words themselves are framed with painstaking lines and swirls, while yet others feature depictions of the plants growing in her garden and the mosquito that bit her while she was drawing. The blackout she describes may have given her respite from a busy and fast paced life, but it seems that making this zine serves very much the same purpose. (Lindsay Gibb)
Perzine, Aijung Kim, #2, aijungkim.com