"All I Heard Were Stories" by Stephanie Gonzales (@Foofina666)
Statement/Description
All I Heard Were Stories is assembled from personal family photographs, newspaper clippings, and photography. It examines ideas about generational trauma, resiliency, and self-acceptance.
We’d take long drives around the city, feeling nostalgia at every turn. They’d point with a lit cigarette at the old stomping grounds and tender memories would spark in their minds. Some I’d heard a million times but I’d listen like it was the first, hoping for new details or clues. I’ve heard stories of relatives as myths, legends, and monsters and I’d wonder which parts I inherited. As a little girl, my body was riddled with anxiety. Now I can see that it wasn’t all mine. Making this zine has given me a place to explore these painful junctures of my family lineage and possibly transmute our shame and secrets into something beautiful.
About the Artist/Author
Stephanie is an analog photographer and filmmaker from Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2024 she founded the Wallflower Zine Library, a photography only zine library, currently located at Gowanus Community Darkroom in Brooklyn, NY.
Details: 5 × 7 in. • 24 pages • Black ink, scarlet and black cover on white • Saddle-stitched risograph printed zine • Published by Matiz Press, 2026
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