Pica Zines are short, self-published works I make and distribute– it’s my publishing imprint, identifiable by my little magpie crest on the back page. I settled on calling them “pica” zines because that’s the latin word for “magpie”.

The Pica genus is a crow-like bird found all over the world known for their (usually) black & white coloration and diverse diet. I find them to be a bird with many admirable qualities: they’re very clever, and seem like they can make a living nearly anywhere. Unfortunately, they’re frequently persecuted when they live near humans as their literal and figurative scavenging makes many folks regard them as pests. They can also make quite a racket when their families get together!

They also lend their name to a peculiar medical condition: “Pica” is also a term used to describe a disorder in which patients are compelled to consume things that aren’t regarded as food at all: soil, clay, rocks, and so on. It seems it was dubbed the “pica” disorder because magpies were considered to eat just about anything. As I’m intending to make zines with just about anything as the subject, it seemed like it might be a good fit!

I’ve just made one zine bearing the name so far, but more are to come in the future, so my catalog of publications should be expanding with time. At the moment the main purpose of this page is to solidify a little bit of an internet-search engine presence with the words “pica” and “zine”.

Oh, and speaking of internet searches, I suppose I should clarify that Pica Zines have nothing to do with “picazine”, which seems to be a defunct make-your-photo-into-a-magazine service, or “pica publishing”, which specializes in equine products. Also, I’m not affiliated with the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art– these things are all their own unaffiliated trademarks, institutions, and/or business ventures!