Dream Labor Press is a self-publishing collective founded by a group of Chinese female graphic designer-authors who are based in the United States and China. Our work focuses on storytelling and fiction-making in the liminal space between places and identities.
By means of zines, artist books and other small publications, we play with objects, symbols and memories. We endeavor to communicate layered narratives that resonate with different walks of audiences and to push the boundaries of design.
CURRENT MEMBERS
Doris Liu
Zia Qian
Lexi Xu
Lihao Zhu
Zhenyu Zhou
FAIRS & EVENTS
Brooklyn Art Book Fair, 2024
Other Islands Book Fair, 2024
打开——Open M Art Fair by abC, 2024
Multiple Formats Art Book Fair, 2024
Press Play by Pioneer Works, 2023
Detroit Art Book Fair, 2023
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MCBA Online Shop
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LONELY NEW YORK CITY
Zhihan Qian
2022
5 x 7 inch
Perfect binding
68 pages
This evocative collection explores solitude in New York City through stirring photographs of everyday objects that seem to emit a sense of human loneliness. Capturing moments of quiet isolation tucked within the city's busy veins, the images poetically attach feelings of melancholy and longing to mundane items found throughout the urban landscape. Accompanying the photos are writings that further delve into the gentle heartache and pensive contemplation that comes with being alone in a crowd. Essays, poems, and conversations provide added layers of insight into the small, poignant details of urban alienation. Taken together, the images and words masterfully capture the strange solace found in solitude amidst the pulsing energy and constant motion of New York. A thoughtful meditation on finding beauty within loneliness.