Punk publishing rips up the rules in Rotten magazine
Joel Seawright is the man behind Rotten, an extraordinary magazine that reveals and comments on the process of magazine making. Joel left school at 15 and struggled to find work without any qualifications, but he knew he loved photo books and started playing around with the idea of making a magazine as a way of working with the photographers he admired.
There were some obvious impediments: He had no experience of publishing; he felt like he didn’t have a voice; and moreover he felt like he needed to prove himself to his dad and show what he could do. The result is a magazine unlike anything else I’ve seen – scrappy and handmade, funny and opinionated, it’s intensely personal but also intended as a general demonstration that these days virtually anyone can make a magazine.
If you enjoy this one take a look through our archives on Soundcloud or iTunes to find lots of other independent magazine makers speaking about the work they do. And of course if you follow us while you’re there we’ll be able to deliver our future episodes to you as soon as they’re ready.
