Rat World mag is rocking the scene
Rising from the underground arts scene in Aotearoa, Rat World is a quarterly print magazine that’s quickly becoming a staple amongst creatives. Its carefully curated pages are packed full of charming illustrations, reviews, comics, interviews, poems, and other exciting experimental forms that blur the lines of the print medium. The magazine took home the People’s Choice Award at the 2022 Auckland Zinefest and there’s even more fun to come. Jennifer Cheuk, the Editor-in-Chief, sits down for a zoom chat ahead of Rat World’s late night zine workshop. She dishes on the response to the magazine, the sense of community that comes from working with other creatives, and why the magazine belongs in print.
Where did this incredibly charming name come from?
I actually had the name Rat World stuck in my head from, like, 2020 to 2021. At first, I thought it was an 80s fashion label—I tried to screen print some secondhand shirts and be like, Rat World, it’s a fashion label! And then, in January this year, I woke up and was like, no, no, it’s a magazine. I’m gonna start a magazine. I’m gonna call it Rat World, it’s perfect, that’s it.
And what was the process in pulling the concept for mag together after that epiphany?
I come from a background of journalism and publishing and writing, and as a Pan-Asian creative, I always kind of identify the fact that there’s a gap for BIPOC creators in the publishing space. In published works as well, a lot of emerging and minority voices are often left out of those spaces. I really wanted to create something that was just welcoming and accessible for everyone to be a part of—I know what it’s like to not have your parents know the right people, I know what it’s like to not be part of that inner creative circle. And it’s hard to get started.
So, we kind of just started reaching out to people who I thought were interesting, but kind of not really platformed enough. And I was like, “Hey, do you want to be part of this print magazine?” Most of the people said yes… And it kind of just took off from there. It was awesome to meet these people that are doing such interesting and important work, but they’re not being showcased as much as I feel like they should be.
What has the initial response been like?
Um, it’s been kind of crazy! I kind of just started this because I wanted to, and I like talking to cool people and meeting them and just connecting with this awesome creative community that we have all around Aotearoa. People were just so responsive and so supportive… we have launch parties for every issue, because I’m really into creating kind of a collective around that world. After the second launch party, people were like, “hey, I’ve met creatives that I never would have met without Rat World, and I’m connecting with these artists, and we’re making projects now.”
It was something that was so cool after lockdown and Covid, when people felt so disconnected. Like, it sucked for creatives—it sucked for everyone—but for independent artists it was really hard.
It’s so interesting to think about the mag as a community meeting point…
There are so many cool community spots that have started coming in too, like Dung Beetle is a great one, Gray’s Wine bar as well… Move Space does these amazing community events. It’s so awesome to see all these people get together and support each other and connect… That’s what I really like about this magazine is we’re making an effort to kind of have coffee chats and like, meet up with people… I think that’s really important these days, to actually listen to what people want with their ideas and how they want it to be showcased.
I’ve seen that the mag has utilised certain digital elements… is there a push to go digital at all? Or do you feel really firmly that this is a print magazine?
I mean, this is 100% of print magazines. Statistically over Covid and lockdown, [we saw] that people were really into print, and then, you know, book sales were pretty much at their peak in Covid. So, print magazines are really not going anywhere. And I collect like, hundreds of print magazines every couple months, my whole income goes to that!
I can tell that there are hundreds of independent print magazines springing up, because at the end of the day, you know, a website can get closed down anytime… and there’s no trace of that. [Having a print magazine] it’s kind of tangible, and it’s unique. And I think people inherently know the value of that. Yeah, I mean, when we started this, I didn’t know how it would go and whether people would be interested… It’s really telling that people were really interested in print and seeing their work on a page.
If people are keen to get involved and have quite an experimental form they want to try out, how do you encourage them to get in touch?
Just email or Instagram DM! I get emails every day being like, “I have this idea, but I’m not sure about it.” And I’m like, “Hey, let’s go for a coffee, or let’s have a zoom call, and we can just chat about it.” And if you feel like this isn’t really the right idea that you want to pursue, that’s totally fine.
You can find Rat World @ratworldmagazine and order a mag on https://www.ratworldmag.com/
ILLUSTRATIONS BY TASHI RD @TASHI_RD
