HELLO BARKADA

arts & culture centered on the margins

Compressed III: A Zine & Music Fair

AUG 20, 2025 • EVENTS

Find Hello Barkada holding it down for and with Cempazuchitl's Library at the 3rd annual Compressed: A Zine & Music Fair presented by Particle.FM and Burn All Books. This year's event takes place at Bread & Salt Gallery in Barrio Logan on Saturday, August 23. Come through to support collective care!

Hello Barkada in Community

JUL 14, 2025 • EVENTS

Put on a KN95 mask or better and try out foam printmaking for resistance with Hello Barkada during Open Studio Hours on Friday, July 18, at The Print Studio in Athenaeum Art Center. Foam sheets, stamp pads, blank USPS Priority Mail labels, and KN95 masks provided by Hello Barkada.

Throwback: On Radical Openness

JAN 10, 2025 • ESSAYS

How learning to see the entrenched practices of empire within the popular arts has shifted my perspective on what it means to be a conscientious TV viewer and filmgoer, particularly as it relates to the BDS call to boycott Disney. Originally published on January 10, 2024.

A brown hand holding up the black and white zine in front of a leafy green hedge. The cover of the zine features falling leaves and the title, "isang mahal."

Made by Hello Barkada: Zines & Tings

ABOUT

Hello Barkada published the first issue of Isang Mahal, an annual compilation zine, in 2022 to feature original works by commissioned artists and writers. Since then, Hello Barkada has published and distributed over 20 zines, including Isang Mahal issues 2 and 3. Learn why zines are central to the work of Hello Barkada.

A rock painted blue with a pink happy face lays on a concrete curb.

Help a Grassroots Organization Thrive

ABOUT

When you become a Hello Barkada backer, patron, or client, you help support independent arts storytelling and programming by, about, and for marginalized communities. Be a part of the momentum we're building and consider a contribution, zine purchase, and collaboration today!

Black text says "Most Read" followed by bold black line break.

White text says "The Breadth of Trinidad Escobar's Arrive In My Hands. Published by Black Josei Press, Trinidad Escobar's Arrive In My Hands is a collection of Queer erotic comics, poem-comics, and illustrations that surges off the page like desire released from dormancy." Text on a darkened illustration of oceanside cliff formations that look like two women laying on their left sides in an embrace.

White text says, "Queenie: Godmother of Harlem. Inspired by the life of Stephanie "Queenie" St. Clair, this graphic novel by Elizabeth Columba and Aurélie Lévy and published by Megascope / Abrams ComicArts is a gripping read." Text on a darkened photo of the hard cover book on a red and white embroidered tapestry.

White text says, "Hello Barkada Comics #8. Each edition of our comics series features a new emerging or established cartoonist. In our first of 2023, nonbinary Caribbean American artist FeliceY shares a coming-of-age story in 'I Just Need a Pad.'" Text on a darkened black and white illustration of the second first panel of the comic featuring the narrator saying, "I need a pad."

Black text says "See More" next to thick black line break.

Black and white illustration of a woman sitting in a bubble-filled bathtub, and a man washing her hair as she sits in the bath.

In this comic strip that launched the Hello Barkada Comics series, Latina body-positivity cartoonist Maxi Rodriguez shares her perspective on the value of chosen family.

Please don't be alarmed: Stephanie Williams is in demand and on a roll

PROFILES

How the writer of Nubia: Queen of the Amazons and Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic: The Family Snikt went from clinical lab work to comic book bylines

On Radical Openness

ESSAYS

How learning to see the entrenched practices of empire within the popular arts is shifting my perspective on what it means to be a conscientious TV viewer and filmgoer.

Color photo of Japanese American cartoonist Elizabeth Ito.

Elizabeth Ito's Peabody-winning City of Ghosts captures overlooked stories of Los Angeles