Medicine Exchange

How can the sharing of grief, loss, and vulnerability build a collective practice of care?

Medicine Exchange is a mail correspondence project highlighting the small daily acts of mutual care that knit communities together. Following a series of personal losses, I drew a pocket-sized zine called Five Medicines for Grief, and shared it on social media. I had a sudden flood of requests for printed copies. One person in Puerto Rico wanted a bunch to share with his community of queer and trans people struggling in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Another in Atlanta wanted to pass it around as part of her organizing work. 

I decided to offer it in trade to anyone who sent me a story of some pocket-sized act of kindness they had done that week. I received sixty responses: from Australia, four Canadian provinces, and twenty US states and territories. I took those responses, made a followup zine, and mailed both zines back to my correspondents, offering a glimpse into the work so many do on a daily basis to try to make the world a little easier. 

The first zine is color-copied and can now be bought online; the second zine is a hand-collated two-color Risograph print and is a limited edition for those who submit kindnesses.