Common Threads Press is a project by Laura Moseley, founded in January 2019. The goal of the project is to nurture alternative formats of arts education, production and distribution that keeps community, affordability and accessibility at its core. Predominantly, we produce zines (small, self-published booklets) about art history, written with emerging or early-career researchers, students and academics. The zines are stocked in bookshops and art galleries around the UK, and sold through our online shop.
The Beginnings
The project started with just an idea and the help of friends. In Spring 2019 we launched our first zine about the Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi. The idea stemmed from Laura's experience in academia and museums where the work of women artists is often underrepresented. Laura wrote, designed and printed the zine with illustrations by local artist Rachael Siddall. It was sold on Etsy and publicised on social media.
You can shop our current range of zines here.
Awards and Development
In May 2019, Laura entered a competition held by the University of York and Santander for students in need of funding for business ideas. With a big pitch on the importance of diversifying art history and opening it up to more people, we won £1000. This allowed us to get a designer and some equipment to improve the quality of the zines. A few months later, the zines were stocked in bookshops, including the Tate Modern bookshop. Since then, we have been developing the range of topics within art history that we cover and we deliver events. We also send out a monthly risograph printed newsletter with updates, reading recommendations, events and other content related to art and activism.
Radical Possibilities: Art and Queer Identity
Our biggest achievement so far is our publication 'Radical Possibilities: Art and Queer Identity' with over 20 contributors. This zine brings together articles, essays, original art, comics and interviews that sit at the intersection of art and queer identity. It brings together the voices of some incredible artists, activists and writers and celebrates their creativity, sensitivity and resilience. It asks what it means, in 2020, to look at art and history through an activist lens. These pieces assert a power in difference and resist the way LGBTQIA+ people have been erased and devalued.
As of Spring 2021, we have sold over 300 copies. It is available to purchase here.
LAURA MOSELEY
FOUNDER
Hello! Thank you for visiting our website, I hope you're enjoying reading about what we do.
Alongside this project, I work as a freelance arts facilitator, which essentially means I wear many hats in order to help organisations deliver fun and interesting arts-related content. Predominantly, I deliver workshops about zines, art history, activism and radical publishing. I am also an arts writer, building a portfolio of interviews, essays and articles. I am also an MA History of Art student at University College London, researching the intersections between feminism and contemporary textile practices. I have a website with full details of my freelance projects, experience and education background, which you can visit here. If you would like to work together to create something related to what I do, please feel free to contact me.
