Over the course of six months, I made a zine about gentrification in East Austin and No Sleep No Breaks (NSNB), a film directed by Fum Fum Ko. Alongside original design, photography and illustrations, the zine includes interviews with Ko along with artists Te’aunna Moore (aka Blakchyl) and Darrion Borders (aka Chiclopz), who star in the film. Both the interview and essay that follows explores what it means to continue the struggle for Black liberation through contemporary film within the context of environmental racism and displacement in Austin, Texas and beyond.

An animated gif of NSNB featuring a person holding the book as it animates from page to page.

A small stack of zines.

Illustrative portraits of Chiclopz (left) and Blakchyl (right) in black art marker.

Hands holding NSNB open to a page spread.

NSNB lying on its front with the spine, front and back cover exposed.

NSNB lives on within Austin Public Library’s collection, which started in 2014 and has since grown to include over 100 zines, according to the Austin Chronicle.

My hand holding a copy of NSNB at the Austin Public Library.