Dechanique Brings Handmade Sequential Art to the Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair

Dechanique is a Hyattsville, Maryland–based artist working in adult comics, illustration, and self-published zines — the kind of intimate, hand-produced work that lives in the same tradition as the letterpress and bookbinding at the heart of this fair. Operating from just outside Washington, D.C., in the dense creative community that clusters around Hyattsville's arts district, her practice centers on drawn narrative: comics that tell stories with specificity and visual economy, and zines that make that work accessible and shareable in small-run printed form. Dechanique's comics are rooted in sensuality, magic/fantasy, genderplay, and alt-history, inspired by their early loves of Sailor Moon, Ranma ½, and Bondage Fairies. 

At the Chesapeake fair, visitors can expect a table of original adult comics, artist zines, and illustrated work — the kind of hand-held publication that rewards the same slow attention as a finely printed broadside. Self-published zines and handmade comics occupy a distinct corner of the print arts universe: low-run, high-intention, made to be read and passed on. Dechanique brings that energy into a fair that spans the full range of what it means to make something with paper, ink, and intention. Whether you're already a zine collector or have never held one, this is a good place to start.

Find Comics & Zines / Dechanique at the Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair on May 9, 11am–4pm, on the 200 block of N. Washington Street in Havre de Grace, MD. Admission is free — learn more at chesapeakeprintersfair.com.