Organized by Jasmine Nyende

A Right to Defiance celebrates queer expression by honoring ongoing legacies of disruption and resistance. This day-long festival includes a guided meditation, installations, intimate panel discussions, and videos and readings on the political dimensions of queer and punk culture, culminating in an evening of performances by queer/femme/Black/Brown punk bands from around the country. A Right to Defiance rejects white supremacy and heteronormativity as the standard environment for Punk, amplifying strategies for survival and healing.

Featuring

Performances by

• Alli Logout
• EDGESLAYER
• Twompsax / cher strauberry
• FUPU
• Trap Girl
• Tabor Dark
• The Groans

DJ sets from

• Bapari
• EDGESLAYER

Panels moderated by Bitchface Podcast
with Paradise Khanmalek, Carolina Hicks, Tabor Dark, Uhuruverse, cher strauberry, EDGESLAYER, Trap Girl, Alli Logout

Readings by Carolina Hicks & Paradise Khanmalek

Videos by SNATCHPOWER, Nevin Kallepalli & Nhà Sàn Collective

Looming Workshop and Installation by Common Threads

Vendors
Playtokens
Shop Wikifur
La Loba Loca
sleepybbybutt
Madeline & Pearl

The Media Sponsor for A Right to Defiance is dublab

Schedule

Daytime Program
From 1-6:30PM - $5-10 suggested donation
1PM: Doors
1:30-2PM: Guided meditation
2-3PM: Looming Workshop by Common Threads
3-4PM: Panel 1 — Your self hatred is the enemy’s propaganda* : archiving joy, rage & change - w/ Carolina Hicks, Cher Strauberry, Tabor Dark, Trap Girl, moderated by Bitchface
4:30-5:30PM: Panel 2 — Whose imagination are you living in? the multiverse is queer trans black & femme - w/ EDGESLAYER, Alli Logout, Uhuruverse, Paradise Khanmalek, moderated by Bitchface
*after Carolina Hicks

4-8PM: Join DisplayOnly and Queer Skate Los Angeles skateboard meet up at Pecan Park for Cher Strauberry bday and a Queer Skate Sesh with Briana King

Childcare will be provided during the daytime portion of the event. You must fill out this info sheet by June 14 if you will need childcare.

Evening Program
From 8PM-late - $5-35 sliding scale
8PM: Doors
8:30PM-3AM: Music and performances

Jasmine Nyende is an artist and vocalist for Black femme & them punk band FUCK U PAY US (FUPU). Her art practice spans performance, textiles, writing and community building as a form of activism. She leads a monthly fibers group centering how craft & DIY culture can be used for social justice.

Bitchface is a podcast hosted, written, recorded & produced by Nicole Kelly & Phoebe Unter. NK & Phoebe have also collaborated on performances, parties & a collection of zines, and have been residents at the Women’s Center for Creative Work and This Will Take Time.

Carolina Hicks is an artist exploring illustration & painting, time-based media, self-publishing, workshop facilitating, installation, and sound work. Their work considers: how the colonial project hasn’t ended yet, grief, the death of hyperobjects, biophilia, patriarchy-produced pollution, misogyny as a virus, trauma and its forms, healing the wounded feminine.

Paradise Khanmalek is a visual artist, poet, and graphic designer working with science fiction themes, color theory, the fabric of reality, and the sensual richness of our world.

The Uhuruverse is a Los Angeles-based PROTEST ARTIST who uses multiple mediums and performance styles to speak against oppression and demand liberation.

Nevin Kallepalli is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles.

Nhà Sàn Collective (NSC) was established in 2013 by artists of the younger generation of Nhà Sàn Studio - one of the longest-running spaces for artistic experimentation in Vietnam, founded in 1998 in Hanoi by artists Trần Lương and Nguyễn Mạnh Đức. Operating as an independent and non-profit initiative, and working both on its own and in collaboration with local and international partners, the group organizes art projects of various scales and forms, focusing on examining local socio-political contexts and histories. Through activities that continually push the boundaries of artistic expressions and dialogues, NSC serves as a supporting platform for its members, as well as contributes to engendering connections between practitioners, in Vietnam and beyond. www.nhasan.org

FUPU (FUCK U PAY US) is a Black femme and them punk band from Los Angeles, CA with vocalist Jasmine Nyende, guitarist Uhuru Moore, bassist Sunny War and Bapari on drums. FUPU stands for reparations, femme and queer liberation and challenging the white supremacist status quo.

EDGESLAYER is a multidisciplinary visual and music artist from New Orleans, La. Edgeslayer uses haunting melodies and harmonies to invoke emotional process. Edgeslayer is an intergalactic Demoness who traveled from the negavrrse to heal the human race with emotional dissidence! Edgeslayer uses unique samples spoken word, trap and hip hop beats keep that ass twerking in the spirit of the ancestors.

cher strauberry is a queer trans skateboarder from Oakland, CA. She is the author of “Diddley Squat Diaries” zine & has a one grrrrL punk band called “Twompsax”. She skates for unity skateboards and loves her cat.

Tabor Dark manuel arturo abreu is a Dominican poet and conceptual artist from the Bronx. Currently living/working in a garage in southeast Portland, they use what is at hand in a process of magical thinking, with attention to ritual aspects of aesthetics.

Bapari is a Haitian-American, Los Angeles based multi-genre artist, producer, composer, DJ, instrumentalist and vocalist. A regular on NTS Radio, she is the current drummer of the afro-punk band Fuck U Pay Us (FUPU). Bapari’s experimentation with somber yet danceable soundscapes derives influence from Dub, New Wave, Jungle, UK Grime, Footwork, Break Beat, Hip Hop, dancehall, ambient, Witch House, Post-Punk and Bounce. She most recently collaborated with Red Bull Music Festival & Compose LA, working alongside theorist and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Patrisse Cullors, Phd. and filmmaker Alima Lee.

At the center of the queercore music movement lives Los Angeles based hardcore punk band Trap Girl, formed in 2014. Trap Girl’s music is loud, gritty, impulsive, and powerful. It’s also beautiful; like gold chiffon covered in blood, dirt, and glass, it shimmers and it cuts. Sometimes it’s messy. It f**ks you up all while giving you life. Trap Girl threatens to kill rapists, protect women, and look good doing it, bringing new visibility to what it means to be trans, big, brown, glamorous, and pissed off in Los Angeles.

Don’t let the glitter in their faces distract you from the fires in their eyes! The Groans formed in 2015 when they noticed a lack of representation in their local scene. Since then they have curated events with marginalized artists to raise awareness and funds for local organizations. The Groans sing songs about police brutality, fighting depression, street harassment, and why dogs don’t deserve to have nightmares. Catch these fabulous punks near you!

Visual designed by Jay Are
Image by Martin Crudo