the desi girl’s guide to witchcraft (2023)
confined to the size of a regular sheet of copy paper, we designed an eight-page foldable zine that we printed using the risograph. the process of creating it involved a lot of research and collection of recipes from our mothers. we then converted the recipes to standardized proportions rather than the traditional “aankhon ka andaaz”, or eyeball measuring.
the zine itself plays into themes of orientalism and critiques the modern-day appropriation of hindu culture, often rebranded as “witchcraft” in western contexts. by presenting these remedies in this way, we sought to reframe these practices as something meaningful and deeply rooted in cultural traditions rather than a trend.
to make the zine more accessible, we scaled up the first page to create a poster design with a qr code that, when scanned, led to a downloadable pdf file. this file included a printable version of the zine as well as larger, more readable versions of the pages. we distributed these posters across campus, placing them in high-traffic areas like the design building, the library, and other communal spaces, inviting everyone to engage with the content.
typeset in modakshar and area.