A Bigger Book Fair - Peckham2416 - 18 May 2025
Phew phew!
Well, we three have just about recovered after three days at A Bigger Book Fair at Peckham 24. We weren’t quite sure what to expect - we’re a relatively new collective, and this was the first time we’ve attended an event of this scale. And so we found our table, unpacked, tweaked our display, and sussed out the nearest pre-launch food options. We were well watered and ready to go.
Come 6pm on Friday, we welcomed a steady stream of visitors. Launch event liquids in cans and glasses sloshing about near printed work can induce a little anxiety - fortunately, the work didn’t get soggy - people were generally mindful and in good spirits. We welcomed familiar faces, a slice of birthday cake kindly given to us by another table. It was a little overwhelming, but we’ll put that down as a new experience.
Saturday was much calmer, and we began to settle in. By Sunday, we felt as if we were well into the swing of things. We enjoyed conversations and answering questions about our work. Discussing our collective Silence and Light project in particular, we’re so used to this work now, sometimes it’s easy to forget that most people are not familiar with the project and haven’t seen it before. We received some great feedback about Silence and Light, and were thrilled that we also benefited from a few sales, which is always nice.
Because there are three of us, we each took breaks to look around at the other tables - again, more conversations and an opportunity to admire some incredibly interesting work. We were grateful to reconnect with familiar faces, and to make new connections, and it was particularly uplifting to meet some of our instagram photography-loving friends in ‘real life’. We have come away from A Bigger Book Fair with ideas, questions and a keenness to move forward and experiment.
May 2025…
…and so far it’s been quite a lively year for FIKA Book and Zine. In March, we attended the first Photo Fusion bookfair - a collaboration between Photo Fusion and London Independent Photography. It was bustling, and as we are learning, these independent self-publishing events are good opportunities to meet other self-publishers, share tips and experiences, appreciate each other’s work, and of course to welcome and chat with visitors.
You can listen to our first collective interview with Heather Martin on the Artist’s Tales podcast - Heather has worked so hard to curate such an interesting series of conversations - it’s worth having a listen to the other episodes as well. We’re thrilled to have been featured in the Spring edition of fLIP magazine, where we were interviewed in true FIKA style over coffee by FLIP’s new editor, Kasia Kowalska. We’re learning that these opportunities to talk about FIKA are quite refreshing - because we don’t often take the time (because let’s face it, we all have so many things going on aside from working on projects) to reflect on what we do and how we work together, the values we share - some of the things that brought us together in the first place.
We’re currently gearing up for three days at A Bigger Book Fair at Peckham 24 from 16 to 18 May. Print jobs are being reordered, delivered and checked (so far so good, phew). Adhesive glue tape dispensers are being kept busy as slip cases are being constructed. We’re looking forward to being part of this event, which is running for its second year.
We already agreed that we’ll come back to working on our next collective project after Peckham 24. We’ve also been away, otherwise, we will be going away: Arun has been in India for three weeks, Frankie went to Portugal for a walking holiday, and Jo will be heading to Denmark at the end of May. So as well as Peckham planning, we’ll have plenty of catching up to do when we meet in early May...and we’re not always great at sticking to an agenda at the best of times, especially when it’s been a while since we three last met in ‘real life’. Anyway, come by and see us at Peckham, we look forward to seeing you.
...many slip cases are being made...
January 2025...
FIKA finished 2024 on a high note with the launch of our first collective project, Silence and Light. We’ve been thrilled by the interest, support and encouragement we’ve had to date. It was a great feeling to finally release our trilogy into the world after spending a long time with the project ourselves and overcoming hurdles along the way. A learning curve, and we made it!
And so to 2025. FIKA has started to explore a new collective project idea, which is currently in its very early stages - all that we can say at this point is that our project will indeed be realised in the form of a printed real-life book of some kind, as is the FIKA way. We’re going to be seeking more opportunities for showing and sharing our work too, and we continue to encourage one another to progress in each of our photography-led endeavours. Here’s an insight into our individual ambitions for 2025:
Arun is determined to complete three works. Forever is about the relationship of a typical family house with ageing and time. Forgotten is about a neglected and abandoned traditional family home in a small town in India. The third work is a personal diary simply called 1978, which he may not publish. Apart from this, Arun plans to improve his inefficient and cumbersome image editing workflow with Frankie’s and Jo’s invaluable help.
Frankie’s goal for 2025 is to finally crack the printing conundrum, of how to get the best quality image printing from commercial short-run printers so that we can reliably produce the high-quality output we enjoy and appreciate ourselves. And more personally, she is researching and hoping to finish her book about returning to Belfast as a teenager in the midst of the Troubles, working title “Past.Tense.” That, and attending more book fairs!
Jo is determined to pull two other projects in progress off her hard drive. One will be a book of photos and writing based on a series of walks around London, and the other, about her encounters with dogs in India, might be a zine or a short series. She has tasked herself with using up the rolls of film sitting on her various cameras and is looking forward to trying out the Fujichrome Velvia ISO 50, which expired in 1999 that Arun kindly gave to her…
And so we have plenty to be getting on with both collectively and individually. We’re looking forward to seeing what will happen and sharing our news along the way. Wishing you all the very best for 2025.
Joanna's new zine, Seeking an alternative solar system for good times is now available to purchase. It was from the comfort of home that light, darkness, heat, condensation and imagination all came together to help Joanna create her alternative solar system.
November 25 - December 8, 2024, Hackney Gallery, Intersectional Grammar: Trees Frankie and Jo each had a photograph included in this group exhibition which was curated by UK-based artist-photographer and poet, Jacqueline Ennis-Cole. At the heart of the exhibition was a celebration of trees through the ancient craft of storytelling. The exhibition highlighted the significance of trees within a complex network of relationships, helping to communicate our collective aspirations towards peacemaking as an often overlooked form of climate action.
November 23 2024 FIKA launched our first collaborative project, Silence and Light at the LIP Photobook, Etc event at Rich Mix in Bethnal Green. We enjoyed sharing our project for the first time, and were thrilled with the feedback we received. It was a wonderful opportunity to share a room with so many other photography-loving folks and to see their wonderful work.
Frankie launched her book, Dividing Lines at the Photobook Café in January 2024. The project is a post-Brexit consideration of borders and the division of landscape, through the landscapes of Donegal. For further information click this link to Frankie's website.
The book is also available to buy at the Photographer's Gallery bookshop.
We are delighted that Arun's zine A new life in Zambia: Early photographs by Sant Kumar Jain is available to buy in The Photographer's Gallery bookshop at the moment. See https://www.arunmisraphotography.com/books for further information and updates.