Manifesto
As a student of Design in the early 2000s, Aphrodite was influenced by the late Ken Garland’s First Things First Manifesto published in 1964 which called on all creatives to use design for good.“There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills. Unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention. We propose a reversal of priorities in favour of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication – a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning.”
– First Things First Manifesto, 1964.
Last updated: 1 February 2025.
The Illographo Press manifesto is to make publishing accessible and sustainable. We focus on originality, we value quality over quantity and we strive to create personal connections to counter mass consumerism. Illographo Press was established in 2021 with the goal of publishing original works that don't fit the mould of commercial publishing; connecting with diverse creatives; and supporting local and independent bookstores.
Sustainable printing
All Illographo Press publications are self-funded and independently produced open and limited editions sold directly by the author/publisher and distributed to select independent bookstores. Out-of-print titles are not reprinted (unless it’s a revised edition) to make space for new ideas and create more opportunities for collaboration. Paperless or digital editions of titles are also available. By printing in small quantities and designing with accessibility in mind, we elevate the value of each publication while keeping our production lean and reducing our carbon footprint.
Accessible publishing
Illographo Press believes that everyone has a story to tell and our vision is to give aspiring artists and writers a voice by giving them access and support to publish their work. We’d love to collaborate with creatives of all ages and abilities; from all religious, cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Send us a pitch for a story, an idea or creative project in English or any languages. We are open to publishing new zines and books that aligns with out ethos and we’re here to help creatives self-publish their work. The only requirements are originality, passion, patience, and perseverance to see your creative idea through to the end.
[Published on 7 April 2025]
Do we really want to give away CREATIVITY to Artificial Intelligence and the corporations who run them? Do we really want to let go of the best thing about being human – feeling, thinking, touching, seeing, mark-making, writing, storytelling, falling in love, getting inspired, expressing yourself, failing, failing, and failing again, learning, growing, and becoming?...Do we want to give all that up so we can “have more time” on our hands...to do what exactly? Death and taxes?
What is Life without Art? If we remove the essence of being human – our flaws and imperfections, our search for meaning and purpose, and our capacity to CREATE – then all we have left is DESTRUCTION. If we’re not careful, it won’t be war or global warming that will end our species. We will die by our own hands...all because we couldn’t embrace our own humanity.
“Whoever creates this stuff has no idea what pain is whatsoever. I am utterly disgusted… I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”
- Hayao Miyazaki, Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, 2016.
Breaking up with Big Tech
[Published on 5 March 2025]
Wolfbound Books, Illographo Press and School of Zines are self-funded passion projects. These views are my own, guided by my conscience.
We are reviewing our ways of working and the digital systems, online platforms and services that we use. We have to exercise due diligence and be careful not to support companies who are complicit to genocide and crimes against humanity, and have ties with Zionism and Fascism.
Effective on 5 March 2025, we will cease to use PayPal to receive and process payments. We will reach out to our stockists and consignors regarding this change and provide alternative options. We are also reviewing our website and e-commerce platform on Squarespace, and point-of-sale system on Square.
We sincerely apologise for not doing this review sooner and for unintentionally influencing people to use these platforms to conduct business with us.
Full transparency, we don’t have an account on X (formerly Twitter). We’ve never voluntarily fed data into OpenAI or ChatGPT. We don’t have a TikTok profile, Facebook page or Meta For Business, and since the start of 2025, we’ve abandoned WhatsApp and LinkedIn. We can now add PayPal to the list of applications we CAN live without. But we are still dependent on Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta (Instagram) despite the right-wing shift in their politics. It’s difficult to disconnect from big tech and social media all at once. We need more time and information to plan our exit, but it must be done.
Being on these platforms goes against every moral fiber of our being and staying on them makes us hypocrites. This transition will be challenging but the change will be for good. It will impact how we live but perhaps it is time to slow down, to prioritise life over work, to value integrity over material gains, and to return to simply being human.
We are decolonising our mindsets and breaking away from Western capitalist ideals. We are shifting all of our engagement offline, focusing on creating safe and inclusive spaces for meaningful connection with our local community. If we are successful, you won’t hear about it.
In a capitalist society, money talks. The only way to stop the noise is to Boycott, Divest and Sanction. There are thousands of brands on the BDS list worldwide. Please do your own research. Ask why before you buy. When in doubt, choose local and support small businesses over big capitalist machines. Trust me, the world will be better for it.
Apple (inc. AppleTV, Music)
Google (inc. Youtube)
Meta (inc. Facebook, Instagram & WhatsApp)
Microsoft Group (inc. Linkedin, GitHub)
Airbnb
Booking.com
Coca Cola Group
Disney
eBay
Expedia Group
Fiverr
IBM
McDonalds
Nestle Group
Starbucks
Target
Unilever Group
Wix.com
X
xAI
The Boring Company
Neuralink Corporation
Zip2
OpenAI
Tesla
SolarCity
PayPal
https://bdsaustralia.net.au/un-list-of-complicit-companies/
https://boycott-israel.org/boycott.html
Breaking up is hard to do. We are going through withdrawals. We are feeling the pain of extra “manual” work and with zine fair and book fair season well underway, our conviction to boycott will be tested.
But you see, it’s really simple. How can we say we are Pro-Palestine when we use tech led by CEOs who publicly align with Zionist and Fascist ideals? We go to protests to fight for humanity, equality, diversity and inclusion, and then we post about our activism on unregulated data-harvesting platforms where it will be shadowbanned by X (Musk), Meta (Zuckerberg), and Google (Pichai)? You only need to look at the billionaires who attended Trump’s inauguration to know which companies are NOT for democracy.
How can we claim that we are anti-capitalism and then willingly give our hard-earned income to Bezos and his investment portfolio (Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, the list goes on). How can we say we are “uncompromising” then concede to convenience. Never forget that convenience is not FREE, it comes at an unfathomable cost to our democracy and humanity.
We will keep going through our exit strategy — whatever it takes, but let us reiterate that this is a personal choice and a lifelong commitment. We respect people’s free will. Follow your own path. Do what is right for you. Lucky for us, we are natural introverts, hence, being alone doesn’t faze us. Privacy, peace and freedom are worth fighting for.
TikTok
Snapchat
OpenAI
ChatGPT
eBay
Meta Business
Amazon Group
PayPal
Microsoft 365
― Maria Ressa, How to Stand Up to a Dictator
[Published on 5 April 2025]
It’s been one month since we started boycotting Big Tech & Social Media, and here’s what we’ve learned:
- It’s f*cking hard…in the beginning...but once you quit, you realise you don't really need it…and you start to question your own “consumer" behaviour. Why do I need to sign up? What am I really signing up for?
- We survived a Zine Fair without a POS system or "tappy" thing. Some people walked away cause it was inconvenient but those who get it happily did the extra work to pay the ethical way. Those are our people.
- Big Tech will make it difficult for you to leave. You’ll have to go through a maze to find the deactivate button and go through an endless cycle of email confirmations before you can delete. They’ll hold your account or offer you discounts to make you change your mind. Do not change your mind. Hold your ground.
- It’s a massive inconvenience. We’re starting to bargain with ourselves - maybe Google isn’t that bad, all my friends are on instagram - but that’s our Western Colonised brains talking. We cannot unlearn what we know about these brands and Digital Colonialism. One second of convenience funds a lifetime of suffering for innocent people who stand in the way of imperialism.
- There are ethical alternatives out there. Big Tech will have you believe that they’re the only ones you’ll need in your life. Bullshit! You have a choice. There are a lot of creative geniuses out there - inventors, designers, developers, and artists making things the ethical way. Seek them out and support them. Look in the global south.
- We CAN live without Big Tech. Once we delete a service, we move on with our lives. That’s the human spirit. Life is meant to be lived out there, not inside computers or devices.
We have a few tech left to quit – Google/Gmail, Squarespace, Instagram and this Android device we’re using. But we’ve found alternatives and we’re making moves.
We’re not here to tell you what to do, we are only sharing what we are doing and why, in case it helps anyone on the same journey as us. We’re not naive, we know we cannot change the world. But we can change OUR lives.
“For decades, Silicon Valley has been supporting the Israeli apartheid regime, supplying the advanced technology and investment needed to power its economy and occupy Palestine.
Just as they did in 20th-century South Africa, today’s largest US-based technology corporations see an opportunity to profit from Israeli apartheid – a by-product of US-driven digital colonialism.”
– Michael Kwet, How US Big Tech supports Israel’s AI-powered genocide and apartheid, 12 May 2024, Al Jazeera.
ethical.net
a collaborative platform for curating, building and discovering ethical alternatives for tech products.
ethicalconsumer.org
provides tools & resources for making ethical choices. independent, not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder co-operative founded in 1989.
[Published on 1 May 2025]
We're closing our online shop but don't worry, we're still here.
From 1 July 2025, the Wolfbound Books (WBB) studio and distro will be trading 100% OFFLINE in-store and in-person. WBB will phase out our ONLINE shop by 30 June 2025 and disconnect from Instagram (Meta) by 30 May. School of Zines will stay on Instagram until December 2025 to honour our collaboration commitments.
We value organic interaction and human connection above all.
We are located at the Arts & Cultural Exchange Parramatta. You can visit our physical space by appointment or come to our Open Days, School of Zines workshops, and events or find us at a book market or zine fair near you. Thank you for your continued support.
Radical times call for radical changes.
We are rewriting our purpose and reshaping the way we work to strengthen our commitment to the global Boycott, Divest and Sanction Movement and to follow through with our Big Tech Exit Strategy.
Now more than ever, we need to challenge the status quo, shift our mindset and be the change we want to see in the world.
Boycott. Divest. Sanction.
Money is the lifeblood of Capitalism. Genocide and War crimes are methods of Colonialism. The only way to stop the war machine is to make it UNPROFITABLE to run. Without money, they have no power.
We have no control over where our government spends our taxes but we, as individuals, can choose what we consume, which companies we support, and what causes we fund. We have a choice whether to protect our intellect and privacy or let them steal it.
We all have rights by virtue of being human but it's up to us to uphold them.
Free Palestine!
boycott-israel.org
bdsaustralia.net.au
ethical.net
ethicalconsumer.org
We acknowledge the Burramattagal and Dharug people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land where we live, work and create. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past and present. Always was, always will be.