Beyond Disciplines: Self-Publishing and Creative Research at Boundless Bound

In October 2025, designer, artist, and educator Feixue Mei organised the Boundless Bound Symposium and Art Book Fair at James Madison University in Virginia. Held over two days, the event brought together artists, designers, scholars, and students to explore self-publishing as a site where creative practice and academic research can intersect. Through talks, workshops, exhibitions, and an art book fair, Boundless Bound positioned publishing not as a static output, but as an active process of making, thinking, and exchange.

The programme was built around the idea that formats such as zines, artist books, comics, graphic novels, and experimental prints can function simultaneously as creative works and as research tools. Across the two days, participants were invited to present, exhibit, and share work that challenged disciplinary boundaries, ranging from visual communication and media studies to publishing history and cultural research.

The first day focused on the symposium and hands-on making. Invited speakers from universities across Virginia and beyond shared presentations on their research and creative practices, while an open-call Pecha Kucha session allowed emerging voices to contribute short, focused talks. Alongside this, workshops in letterpress printing, risograph printing, and tunnel book construction offered participants the opportunity to engage directly with physical publishing processes. The day concluded with an opening reception for m(other)ing, an exhibition co-curated by Feixue Mei with Meaghan Dee and Bree McMahon at the Duke Hall Gallery.

The second day centred on the art book fair, where artists, designers, and publishers presented zines, books, comics, prints, and experimental publications. Additional workshops explored zine making and the role of publishing in career development, while panel discussions examined how creative practice can connect with social, educational, and scholarly inquiry. The fair created a setting where informal conversation, exchange, and discovery could take place alongside more structured academic discussion.

Throughout the event, Boundless Bound fostered collaboration across disciplines and levels of experience. Faculty, students, visiting artists, and members of the public shared space as both makers and readers, reinforcing the idea that publishing can be participatory rather than hierarchical. Guest speakers included Jamie Mahoney, Jen Thomas, Meaghan Dee, Bree McMahon, and Krista Franklin, with additional contributions from James Madison University faculty including Mary Thompson, Liz Chenevey, Yanbin Li, Yibin Wei, and Feixue Mei herself.

As Mei explains in her own words, “Boundless Bound was about collapsing boundaries—between disciplines, between research and making, and between creators and the public. Self-publishing became a medium through which ideas, stories, and scholarship could circulate in new and unexpected ways.” This approach shaped every aspect of the event, from its open-call formats to its emphasis on hands-on production and dialogue.

Rather than separating theory from practice, Boundless Bound treated publishing as a shared language through which knowledge could be produced, distributed, and reimagined. By placing creative making alongside scholarly research, the symposium and fair highlighted the continued relevance of print and self-publishing as tools for learning, experimentation, and community building.

Feixue Mei is a designer, artist, illustrator, and educator based in Virginia, originally from China. She holds an MFA in Design from Virginia Commonwealth University and is currently an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at James Madison University. Her work has been exhibited and collected internationally, and she continues to explore the role of publishing as a creative and research-driven practice.

Project links
Event page
Instagram