A letter to your younger self can also be a way to make a collective history. That idea runs through Dear Baby Queer, the first zine from Marimacha Monarca Press, a Chicago queer and trans artist-and-educator collective formed in autumn 2017.
Co-founder sarita hernández’s account of the project describes a practice that moves among zines, printmaking, seed papermaking, piñatas and bookbinding. Self-publishing becomes a way to share experience across language, race, migration and queer identity.
The collective’s projects include Queers Can Eat, small zines supporting local food vendors, and Conjuring Crossroads, a print portfolio exchange with Instituto Gráfico de Chicago responding to This Bridge Called My Back. These projects connect art-making with the knowledge people already carry through food, family and community.
The work continues to appear in local collaborations. UIC’s March 31, 2026 launch of the Undocumented Knowledges Digital Archive included screenprinting with Marimacha Monarca Press.
For readers interested in Chicago print culture beyond a finished object on a gallery wall, the collective offers a practice to follow. Explore the project archive for images, publications and workshop history.
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