Beneath the Soil Volume ii

Foreword
Beneath the Soil vol. iii is a collaborative zine created by Beth Siegling (she/they), Karo Ska (she/they) and Maggie Donovan (they/them) in partnership with Time to Tell and Braver Collective. Beneath the Soil aims to provide a platform for queer survivors to express their overlapping identities, embodied identities and to find healing through the act of sharing their stories. This project is an attempt to broaden the sphere of the survivor community and to acknowledge that queer people are historically left out of heteronormative survivor spaces. In these spaces, the intersection of the survivor identity, the queer identity, and other identities are invisible. We are now seen in our entirety.

Beneath the Soil is a place where we render ourselves visible, where our experiences matter, and where we tell our stories on our terms.

The body plays a central role in this exploration of queerness, violence, healing, and community. In this second volume, the body continues to resurface throughout the pieces — the queer(ed) body, the trans body, the altered body, the healed and healing bodies. Though most of us do not know each other, each artist featured in this collection has joined a community; a community of a shared embodied experience.

Our home organization, Time to Tell, inspired and supported the creation of Beneath the Soil. Founded and led by Donna Jenson, TTT aims to spark the telling and hearing of stories from lives affected by incest and sexual abuse through online writing circles, workshops, and performances. In this way, survivors are collectively empowered to speak up and embrace their whole selves. 

We hope you witness these submissions with as much awe and gratitude as we did, and that in it you find a gateway for conversation and/or see yourself reflected within the courage of and honesty of these artists.

With love, 
Beth, Karo, and Donovan

Beneath the Soil vol. ii was published in June of 2023. 

To read Beneath the Soil Volume ii in its entirety please visit us here. 

Content Warning: This zine was created by and for queer survivors of sexual abuse. Many artists explore potentially triggering topics including relationship/intimate partner violence, incest, rape, stalking, and PTSD.