Two Miami natives, Justin Long and Amanda Keeley, have joined forces to send Miamians on a treasure hunt of epic proportions and the goal is to ensure Miami’s hidden gems/treasures are not forgotten.
Long’s “The Meremaid Hunt” Zine, which contains the clues for the treasure hunt, was inspired by The Miami Herald’s Tropic Hunt, a scavenger hunt conceptualized by columnist Dave Barry and Tom Schroder, editor of the newspaper’s former Sunday insert Tropic for the which the Miami scavenger hunt was named. It ended in 1998.
The Zine was created around Long’s love of exploring nautical culture. He submitted it to Exile’s Zine Machine Program last year during its open call. Keeley is founder and director of EXILE Books and was immediately taken by Long’s submission. Keeley and Long are also friends.
“Amanda reached out to me to let me know about open call and I applied and was chosen so this was a cool way to get to create this treasure hunt,” said Long.
The Zine entitled “The Meremaid Hunt” is a play on words combining his love of all things nautical, something he has been exploring in his paintings and maps for years and the idea of creating a treasure hunt to accompany it.
“The name is a funny mix because I wanted it to stand out from the regular mermaid spelling and since I’m into text and word entomology, I started breaking down the word,” said Long. He looked up the word “mere” and learned it refers to a body of water and in French means something small and insignificant, like the small little mermaid sculptures he works with “so it was kind of fun.”
“That, and I was also in a show a few years ago called ‘A Mere Façade’,” he said. Bringing all those elements together got me to the title.”
Keeley thought that the proposal was unusual, unique and fun.
“(It) just grabbed all of us. None of us had come across a Zine that brings people to undiscovered places around Miami via a treasure hunt. His was definitely a unique experience for us.”
The us Keeley is referring to are Dale Zine Shop co-founders Lillian Banderas and Steve Saiz who joined her in choosing the winners. She explains that “each artist we work with, we go with it as a concept for zine. It is a two-sided, large paper piece. We must make it work for that medium.”
Here’s how the Hunt works:
Pick up the Zine at one of five locations and it features the treasure map with all the clues necessary to spot the treasure. With map in hand Long says, “you visit each of the 13 locations to reveal the clue and the final clue is contained in a word search that’s in the zine.”
“The idea is for this hunt to last until the treasure is found, which could be weeks or months,” said Long. “I tried to make it as difficult as I could and because of that I may have to reveal additional clues through our Instagram page @themeremaidhunt.”
His hope has always been to highlight his favorite spots around town because he feels they “are under visited and may not be around much longer plus, it will be nice to generate some buzz around the sculptures I’ve been making lately,” he said.
Expect the zine to be filled with water-themed stories that feature manatees, mermaids, swamps, and plenty of waterways.
Keeley can attest to the difficulty of hunting for the clues saying, “the hunt will definitely be challenging, and Justin has even been very secretive even with me, about those clues.” Even during the production of the zine “he did not want any of us having a head start. He kept us in the dark about all the clues until we went to print.”
Long’s is one of nine zines chosen during this open call and Keeley says “we release a new zine every four to six weeks and before the release, we ask the artists if they want to have some type of release event. It is fun to see the artists produce all these creative components that complement their creation.”
Find Long’s Zine at the following Exile Zine Machines:
Gramp’s Getaway, 3301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne
Locust Projects, 297 NE 67 St., Miami
Sweat Records, 5505 NE 2 Ave., Miami
Bakehouse Art Complex, 561 NW 32 St., Miami
Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables
More info about upcoming events and releases at https://exileprojects.com/.
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