Incendiary: Volume 1 is a zine by Jonah Bergman that features 20 pages of scans showcasing Jonah's personal collection of fireworks packaging.
I spoke to Jonah about his zine, and he told me, "The firework collection is a mix of found materials from road trips across America, and some acquired through back alley Craigslist deals here in LA. Many of the images that appear in the zine were collected from a Walmart-sized firework shop in Florida, which is open year-round."
I appreciate Jonah's ability to find beauty in these often overlooked and unseen packages that possess bright and exciting graphic qualities. The cute fireworks cartoon characters, as well as the funny and provocative titles, are not typically encountered in a curated art context. By presenting these images in a zine, it combines a sense of fun and danger in a potential narrative format, one that sparks curiosity about the explosives' history and the experiences they created for the people who blew them up.
It's published by desiredfx, an independent DIY publishing label of L. Coats. The striking covers and layout of the zine were also designed by Coats. If you're interested in purchasing one of the limited copies, send them a message on Instagram.
See also: These are the crazy industrial machines that make fireworks
