DIY, fanzines and ecofeminism in the Global South: ‘This city is my sister’

Abstract

In late modernity, artistic-social movements play a central role in renewing societal processes. This article aims to understand how the do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos builds bridges of understanding for these challenges, taking the artistic practice of fanzine production of Fernanda Meireles as a starting point. Based on a qualitative methodology, we analyse Meirele's use of a DIY ethos and practice, contextualised within ecofeminism, the Anthropocene and the Phallocene, as well as in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil, where Meireles resides. Through a DIY lens, we highlight the perspectives that favour the resignification of urban spaces in new territorialities, giving rise to new ways of relating to the city and criticising or contesting it using an ecofeminist perspective of (re)existence in the face of the Anthropocene and the Phallocene.