Renee Browne (AnimeBlaque) Fashion Show/After Party
Following the Opening Reception from 6-9pm, a Fashion Show/After Party will take place from 9-11 p.m. Models will display AnimeBlaque’s designs and provide performances of singing, poetry, and theater. Models include Renee Brown as well as January Garcia, Madigan Weidner, Cel Landicho, and Petrona Xemi Tapepechul.
Fashion Borne of Love, Loss & Light is an exhibition and fashion show of fabric, clothing, and beadwork, by Renee S. Browne (AnimeBlaque). AnimeBlaque feels that “Fashion like art should be felt and experienced by everyone.” They continue, “Every person regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation should be able to be comfortable in their skin.” AnimeBlaque is currently working on developing an entire fashion line of clothing dedicated to people with different bodies and figures.
They are a Virginia born non-binary artist with a passion for helping others. Their parents, who emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago were the first to inspire them to grasp at the arts. Their father used to draw in small work notepads and their mother was the weaver of their very first stories.
From there, art became a way to speak, crafting their own stories using any art medium they could find, paint, clay, fabric, words, it simply didn’t matter.
It became how they coped with loss of family members, how they expressed feelings of vulnerability, and fought back against bullies, disease and abuse. AnimeBlaque found their calling in poetry and fashion one after the other. Poetry found them one night at the pharmacy when they were asked to attend an event, an event they didn’t know would eventually enfold into their way of life and whom they have tied their roots to. Poetry helped (her) find (her) partner, a Filipino poet and non-profit open mic host, Cel Landicho. Between the two of them and their steadfast team they were able to keep their community at Slam Richmond growing and alive for almost ten years. This venue, housing poets from every walk of life, has been home to those who have needed a voice in the DMV area.
Renee is in the midst of working on their book Sand in the Skin, a book of poems documenting life as a non-binary black individual living life within America as a first generation citizen, as someone with an autoimmune disorder and as someone who has had to fight to speak their truth.
January Garcia (he/they) is a Virginia poet currently living in Virginia beach, Virginia. By day, Jan works at a library at night in his dreams he cagefights under the drag superstar name Bussy Lloyd-Jones. He is also co-administrator of Slam Richmond Open Mic. He enjoys cooking, writing, photography, flower arranging and being particularly sassy.
Madigan Weidner (he/they) is a queer writer based out of Richmond, VA. Their work aims to encapsulate what it is to be human, vulnerable, cut open. Their favorite things to write about currently are Feelings and The Trans Experience™️. Madigan has been an active member of Slam Richmond since 2015. He is also a member of the 2023 Rich Ink slam team, and his work is featured in their upcoming team chapbook, Our Common Wealth.
Cel Landicho (he/him) has performed at numerous various open mics and competitions in Las Vegas, DC, Philly, Baltimore, Manassas, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Petersburg and Atlanta.
He is associated with:
-Silent Treatment Entertainment (Manassas based) 2012 - present
-Slam Richmond 2013-present (began hosting and leading workshops 2014)
-Coached a youth team at Brave New Voices 2014 (international youth poetry festival and competition)
-Coach and member of Rich-Ink 2021- present (competitive slam team representing Richmond at Southern Fried Poetry Slam in 2021 and 2022)
He is currently preparing for this year's Southern Fried Poetry Festival as coach, where he will be competing in Knoxville, TN.
Petrona Xemi Tapepechul is a Two-Spirit Transgender Woman from Kuskatan, the land known internationally as El Salvador. Xemi is an activist, artist, playwright, actress, and poet in Washington D.C. She was trained at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, and has been featured on various DC Theatre productions, including Angel Rose Artist Collective’s The Cosmic Twins, Protect & Preserve, and Siwayul (Heart of a Womxn), a group she founded in 2015 and is the artist director for. She is a student and advocate of the Nawat and Salvadoran Sign Language, Indigenous languages considered “at-risk”. Xemi is the recipient of multiple awards including the 2018 Champion of the Ask Rayceen Show Annual Poetry Slam Competition; 2018 “Hispanic Heritage Legacy Award” from the Latino GLBT History Project; 2019 “40 Under 40: Queer Women of Washington” by the DC Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, the DC Mayor’s Office of Women’s Initiatives, and the Washington Blade; the 2019 Engendered Spirit Award from the Capitol Pride Alliance; and the recipient of the 2019 DC Mayors Arts Awards “Larry Neal Writer's Award”. Visit her website: xemiyulu.com
IG @xeminesiwayul
Exhibition Dates: May 26 - June 17, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday, May 26, 6-9pm
Renee Browne Fashion Show/After Party: Friday, May 26, 9-11pm
Artist Talks: Saturday, May 27, 2pm
Exhibition webpage: