Each day is an opportunity to celebrate Black art. Today we’re coming with some heat from DC-based rapper Uptown Shane and her poem “Concrete: Pen & Pad,” originally published in MelaNation’s third issue, we are family. “This work was inspired by the life and death of my 19-year-old nephew, Robert, and so many young black men […]
Read More
Illustration by Kira Coleman, BYP100 DC organizer and designer with MelaNation When we first started MelaNation, we were driven by the incredible dopeness we witnessed from Black artists and writers in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. There are many valuable and brilliant perspectives held by people in our communities, and MelaNation is a space where those perspectives […]
Read More
BYP100 organizers do it for the culture, so it’s only right we make an album. The Black Joy Experience is a musical collection dedicated to freedom songs, liberation chants, and holistic energy that keeps joy at the center of our fight for freedom. Let’s be clear. Without joy, we won’t win. Without joy, we won’t survive. […]
Read More
For the first decade and a half of my life, I did not identify as Black. I grew up in Nigeria, and I had no understanding of the meanings attached to racial differences because I was surrounded by people who looked, more or less, like me. I saw white people (and occasionally Latinx and Asian […]
Read More
Today, MelaNation launches the call for submissions for our THIRD issue! We hope issue 2’s summer love playlist got you through the wait for another round of dope creative pieces from Black artists in the DMV. This time around we’re focusing on that thing called family. You know, the people you love, but sometimes need […]
Read More
I got some good news, y’all. Copies of MelaNation’s first and second issues, “agitate the administration” and “the music edition,” are now available at two independent bookstores in DC! MelaNation issue 1 is now available at Fantom Comics, a comic book shop in DuPont Circle in DC (images courtesy of Fantom Comics) Fantom […]
Read More
Over the weekend, MelaNation had the pleasure of being featured in the 7th annual DC Zinefest. DC Zinefest is annual independent, volunteer-organized event that offers a space for local zine makers and artists to network with their fellow creators and share their work with the DC community. During this year’s DC Zinefest there were more […]
Read More
On June 29, 2017, MelaNation and BYP100 DC members Maya Cole and Jordan DeLoach and BYP100 DC Co-Chair Je’Kendria Trahan facilitated poetry and zine-making workshops with campers at Girls Rock! DC. Girls Rock! DC is a music education summer camp that aims to create inclusive and empowering spaces for girls, trans, and non-binary youth in […]
Read More
This week, MelaNation was featured on ELIXHER — “a collection of all things queer, culture, and current.” As a GLAAD Media Award nominated website and magazine, ELIXHER centers Black queer women, trans women, and nonbinary people as it aims to inform, uplift, comment, and reflect. Sound a little like BYP100? The magazine interviewed our very own […]
Read MoreZines (short for “magazine”) are self-published, small circulation booklets that often deal with topics outside of the mainstream. MelaNation is an art zine about Black liberation. Read published issues online. Submit to the zine.
Read More
MelaNation would be nothing without participation from members in our communities. Thank you to everyone who affirmed and supported the first issue, and so much gratitude to the contributors for sharing their art with the world through MelaNation. We’re excited to keep journeying through MelaNation with y’all. MelaNation’s second issue will be published in Summer 2017, […]
Read More