The Ohio Penitentiary Fire of 1930 (Archival Activations №4) by Mariame Kaba

The Ohio Penitentiary Fire of 1930 is a zine about a mass-casualty prison fire caused by one prison guard’s negligence. It is part of the series “Archival Activations” by Mariame Kaba, an organizer, educator, archivist and curator who largely focuses on dismantling the prison industrial complex.

Kaba first read about the fire in The Spotlight on Ohio’s Black Crime. Its cover, with a faceted “Spotlight” and grotesque-style subtitle, shares similarities to the font choices of the zine, designed and illustrated by Kruttika Susarla. The zine’s sculpturally-cut title font Cedar, seemingly hand-carved, complements the woodblock inspired illustration foldout. The rest of the type is set in Nitti Grotesk, with the Ultra weight holding up in low-contrast underlayed titles.