FLORIDA PEST

collaborative collage zine by Mara McCormick & Mickey Stokes

(a cry for help from Gainesville, Florida)

April, 2020. About one month into the Covid-19 stay-at-home order in Florida, when anxiety and listlessness was reaching its peak, Mara ate a cookie, folded up the wax paper wrapper, handed it to Mickey and said "i made a zine". Thus Florida Pest, our collaborative collage project, was born. We humbly present to you several of our favourite volumes. Full collection can be found here on instagram.

Florida Pest Volume 3: Florida Pestfinder

Inspired by late nights on Petfinder dot com, don’t worry friends, we have all been there. You are not alone. You are never alone in Florida, where there are just so many insects. Featuring printouts from Gainesville, FL petfinder.com listings, various Florida creepy crawlies, photocopies from "INSECT PESTS" (1966), origami papers, an assortment of stickers, a single, salsa-stained corner of paper towel, and the body parts of one dead cockroach.

Florida Pest Volume 4: How Bachelors Get That Way

Featuring one very real, donated breakup letter, images and words from a 1949 issue of Coronet Magazine, photographs and letters from a 1955 National Geographic, playing cards, paint, and our two weird brains combined. Notably, our first edition in which we used more glue than scotch tape.

Florida Pest Volume 5: The Years Deeper and Clearer

Made through a fog of migraine, fever, and concussion using images from an old paint catalog, words from a 1940s issue of Coronet Magazine, a variety of museum pamphlets, a salvaged letter sent very near Christmas.

Florida Pest Volume 8: Problem Child

Featuring an anatomy text book, a 1950s better homes and gardens book about flower arrangements, a book of poetry analysis, a painting of Ft Sumter, an ad from Entertainment Weekly, and just so so many Little Orphan Annie Strips. Our apologies to Harold Gray… kinda.