This Must Be For You Zine Issue 1

This Must Be For You 2

Issue One | Contents

- 03 -

About

- 04 -

Writing

- 12 -

Art

- 18 -

Photography

- 26 -

Get Involved

Credits

This Must Be For You FoundersTash Cutts & Charlie Clark

Cover & Magazine DesignTom Hill

Printed byHato Press


About

Hello and welcome to This Must Be For You!

We are an anonymous gift-giving project who work with artists, musicians and writers to leave free anonymous creative presents across London and Oxford. What we’re all about is encouraging human kindness in a tangible way, while at the same time providing an accessible platform for all types of creative people to display their work.

The way we see it you get something cool for free, creatives get their work seen by cool people, and we feel really cool for making everyone happy. We think it’s win-win.

We wanted to showcase some of the amazing talent that we’ve had the privilege of working with, so what you’re holding in your hands is our very first Kindness Zine! We gave each contributor the theme of kindness and this little gem is the result.

The magazine is of course free, and the all of the work that makes it up was kindly donated by the amazing lovely creative types that were good enough to help us out!

WRITING

Writing


Why be kind?

Because sometimes you need 20p for the bus,

Because sometimes your dancing resembles that of a member of Abba,

Because sometimes you snort when you laugh,

Because sometimes you forget a friend’s birthday,

Because sometimes it’s not everyone’s favourite film,

Because sometimes you forget to brush your hair,

Because sometimes you spill coffee on a strangers notebook,

Because sometimes your jokes aren’t that hilarious,

Because all the time, we’re all only human,

And because sometimes, people be kind to you.

By Tilly Lucy

Writing


Zwei Tauben

Zwei Tauben neben sich

Ergeben sich, flatterhaft

Flügel entfaltet zur Hingabe

Taub

und sehnsuchtsvoll

Sie spüren sich doch

lassen nicht verspüren

Sind wachsam doch

warten und lassen warten

Auf ein Zeichen

auf Wärme

In Blicken finden

Etwas

finden.

Writing


Kindness and Travel by Zoe Holder

There’s a hole in my shoe, which, as usual, I didn’t notice until it started raining. Now I’m squelching sadly down the Strand, trying to avoid the spray from passing taxis and thinking wistfully about a nice cup of tea. Can’t wait to get on the train and get home, where I can take these sodding sodden socks off and think about all the sunny places I’d rather be than stinking old London in the middle of winter.

Just then, a City boy in a rumpled suit falls out of a pub door and nearly knocks me into the road. ‘Watch it love!’ he slurs, before lurching into the off-license next door. It’s barely six o’clock. No chance of an apology from him, or from any of the miserable lot in this city, I think, trying not to stamp my foot in rage (it’d only break my shoe even more). No, I’d like to be back somewhere sunny and cheerful, with adventures and cocktails and kindness…

I love travelling, when it doesn’t involve commuters’ armpits in my face at eight in the morning. There are the usual rea-sons, such as fancy architecture, different foods, and snogging people who don’t speak the same language as you, but I most enjoy having constant small challenges to arise to. As well as feeling triumphant when remembering the Greek alphabet well enough to read a train timetable, you inevitably experience the unfailing kindness of strangers when you are obviously, publicly incompetent.

My knowledge of other alphabets stops at rusty Greek, as it turns out, which led to being lost in a dark street in Bel-grade in the middle of the night. Cyrillic isn’t just something you can pick up. If it hadn’t been for the little old lady who came out from a café and helped us reach our hostel, we may never have found our way the, er, two streets ourselves. And even my Greek didn’t stretch as far as reading the small print on our train tickets, as I discovered when we were thrown off the Athens express in a tiny village an hour or two out of Thessaloniki.

Writing


We were rescued again, and waited for the next train in a little bar, with beers and free crisps and a ten-year old boy desperate to try out his English on us.

When my friend Chris was robbed in a railway station in Bulgaria, a larger-than-life Dutch man leaped off the train and helped me apprehend the thief. We somehow retrieved the stolen money, and spent the next few days sharing stories, laughs, and very unusual biscuits with our new friend and his travelling companions.

Under the baking sun in northern India, we discovered traditional Sikh hospitality, in the Gurdwara canteens that serve vegetarian meals to anyone who wants one. In an autumn mist in Lithuania, a man drove us into the city centre to save navigating the Vilnius bus system straight out of the airport. He thoughtfully dropped us outside somewhere we’d feel comfortable- Marks and Spencer.

On a ferry heading towards snowy Manhattan, an elderly man chatted to me about life, death, and bagels, showing me the generosity of openness. I regret being so shy.

Eyes-deep in memories of far-flung shores, I barely register the steps down into the subway, until I see the homeless gentleman who’s there every day, giving directions to anyone who looks lost. In the Tube station, I squelch past the teenage boys who are helping an old lady top up her Oyster card, and the middle-aged couple dancing to a busker’s old rock covers. On the train, nobody is making eye contact… apart from the men in suits pulling faces at a giggling baby, the woman offering a tissue to someone with a terrible cold, the student offering up his finished newspaper…

I don’t buy that ‘selfish Londoners’ spiel, much as I want to. I’m just grumpy because my foot is wet. Which is good, because buying a new pair of shoes is really going to eat into my travel fund.

Art

This Must Be For You | Art 13

Carrin Emma Robertsonvioletsandlion.com


illustrxn ‘untitled’ stipple (indian ink on paper)

illustrxn.tumblr.com


Justine Marzack | vendredinoir.org


Erika Rier | erikarier.com


Doopa Love | Tom Hill | blimpymedia.com

Photography

This Must Be For You | Photography 19

Photo by Duncan Way | slackandwhite.tumblr.com


Photo by Duncan Way | slackandwhite.tumblr.com


Photo by Louisa Stickelbruck | louisastickelbruck.com








Get Involved

(Yeah you do)

If you like what you see and want to join in the gift-giving movement, then please give us a shout! Whether you’re an artist, writer, photographer or musician and you want to contribute to the contents of our gifts, or you just want to help spread the happiness, then we would love to hear from you!

You can contact us at [email protected]

or

On Facebookfacebook.com/ThisMustBeForYou

On Wordpressthismustbeforyou.wordpress.com/

On Instagraminstagram.com/thismustbeforyou

And on Twitter@MustBeForYou

Documents

This Must Be For You Zine Issue 1