Days Here

DREAM LABOR PRESS

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.

MEMBERS

Doris Liu
Zia Qian
Lexi Xu
Lihao Zhu
Zhenyu Zhou

FAIRS & EVENTS
Other Islands Book Fair, 2025
Multiple Formats Art Book Fair, 2025
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

ACQUISITIONS
The Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bowes Art & Architecture Library at Stanford University
Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Design

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Zia Qian
2022

8.5 x 11 inch
Saddle-stitched
32 pages

This intimate zine offers a raw and thoughtful glimpse into the author's experiences adjusting to graduate school life. Created after the author's first year in a graduate program, Days Here captures the emotional highs and lows of this transitional period.

Through collages, drawings, and reflective writing, the author processes feelings of culture shock, friction, and academic pressure. Moments of loneliness and doubt are balanced by snippets of joy and connection. Themes of time management, self-care, and seeking balance emerge as the author learns to thrive in a new environment.

While graduate school poses steep learning curves, this zine ultimately conveys the author's resilience and growth during this formative life stage. Readers who have experienced major life transitions will find resonance in the author's willingness to be vulnerable about the challenges faced. A bittersweet celebration of personal evolution and the fleeting nature of precious time.

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