Join us for an evening with *new zines * panties show * fresh prints * tickling cocktails * sticky snacks *
From 19.00 – 21.00 at our new location, Van Speykstraat 121, Rotterdam
You’re invited!
Book presentations:
~ Eggs by Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva
+ Presentation of Masha’s Taboo zine collection by fellow artists and WdKA illustration students & a selection of PrintRoom’s zine archive
~ Reading My Panties 02: Queer Pillow Talk by Lu Lin
+ Reading my Panties installation
Eggs + Taboo zine collection | Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva
Eggs is a story by Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva that explores motherhood, identity, and the idea of home. The project consists of a zine published by PrintRoom and a series of prints. At its center is a character living in a mysterious forest. Eggs follows her journey while introducing other figures around her: queer bodies, scarred bodies, imperfect bodies, and bodies in transformation. Through her voice, we learn about the place she inhabits, the creatures around her, and the small obsession that keeps her moving forward.
Eggs reflects on the comic-strip format. The term “comic strip” often suggests something simple or even silly, and Masha deliberately embraces this. There is both beauty and horror in a simple story (like a folk tale, for example) where meaning emerges because so much is left open to interpretation.
Like many of Masha’s projects, this work is connected to her country of origin. In December 2022, a new law in Russia banned all “positive or neutral portrayals” of queer and trans people. Since 2024, LGBTQ+ activism has been outlawed and classified as a criminal offence, carrying potential prison sentences. Some of Masha’s recent work responds directly to these laws, highlighting the absurdity of turning real people’s lives into a taboo. She focuses on the relationship between images, representation, taboos, and censorship, examining how these forces shape artistic expression.
Alongside the new publication and prints, Masha will present her private Taboo zine collection, featuring works by fellow artists, WdKA illustration students, and selections from PrintRoom’s own zine archive.
Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva is a visual artist and illustrator, born in Ufa (RU) and now based in Rotterdam (NL). Masha describes what she does as a crossover of fine art and illustration. She worked both as an editorial, commercial illustrator for publishing houses around the world, and as an independent artist for galleries and museums. Since 2019 she has been teaching illustration at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam.
Reading My Panties 02: Queer Pillow Talk | Lu Lin
Reading My Panties is a publishing practice by Lu Lin, focused on the subject of clothing, creating a space for showcasing the ways in which our underwear connects us with our bodies and identities. The project highlights discussions on femininity and how it structures our daily lives, and playfully aims to experiment with multiple ways of story-telling by using and remaking the most mundane item: the underpants. In many Asian cultures, talking about or showing one’s panties is considered taboo, unchaste, and rebellious.
At PrintRoom Lu Lin will present the publication Reading My Panties 02: Queer Pillow Talk next to taking over the space with a panty-installation, hanging underwear on clotheslines, inspired by women protesting in Myanmar.
While the first issue, A Collective Manifesto, confronted the unspoken politics of underwear, this second issue expands the conversation around the topic and centres queer’s panties. Queer Pillow Talk, addresses the intersection of femininity, feminism, and queerness through the lens of panties. It repositions panties—not merely as hidden garments, but as a substantial site of struggle, memory, reflection and transformation.
The project has taken shape as a publication with two issues so far, as well as in various workshops, reading sessions, performances and installations.
Lu Lin (1992) is a self-publisher and socially engaged artist born in China, currently living and working in Arnhem (NL). As a self-publisher in the field, she utilizes artistic approaches to deconstruct the complexity of safe spaces and explore their socio-political and cultural factors in relation to marginalization, drawing on intersectionality, feminism, and queerness.
Through the involvement of social practices, her works are motivated by the alienation experienced in this era of fluidity, showcasing how different aspects of everyday life contribute to identity formation and discrimination. Her work takes various forms, including publishing practices, video essays, workshops, installations, and performances, all of which emphasize intimacy and collectivity. To maintain a strong connection with people, she applies her research into pedagogical and participatory practices within marginalized communities, aiming to foster a more engaging and thoughtful society.