In another era, artist Mahogany Rich went on a first date with her now-ex at Roller Magic in Waterbury. The couple earned a bag full of tickets at the arcade and spent it all on Flippy Frog toys.
“Then we broke up, and now it’s art.”
On Sunday afternoon, those same Flippy Frogs dangled from beaded chains at Rich’s vendor table at New Haven cultural org Kulturally Lit’s graphic novel and comic conference DiasporaCon, where they faced a brighter, or at the very least weirder, future.
The annual conference, featuring Black, Brown, and underrepresented creatives, transformed the event hall at Dixwell art gallery and fellowship program NXTHVN this year as part of Kulturally Lit’s larger effort to promote, nurture, and celebrate the literary arts of the African diaspora. The team, consisting of IfeMichelle Gardin, Shamain McAllister, Zanaiya Leon, and Juanita Sunday, delivered all this and more.
NXTHVN’s event hall buzzed with vendors selling comics, prints, clothing, zines, and jewelry. Some people showed up in costume, including pre-teen jewelry vendors the S.A.N. Girls (Santana, Amayah, and Neváe), who came in coordinated outfits as the PowerPuff Girls. In a lofted area, kids and adults lounged on couches and played video games provided by New Haven arcade lounge Third Space. Upstairs, attendees sat in on talks and workshops on imagination, power, and ingenuity.
Local artists Kulimushi Barongozi and Ruby Gonzalez Hernandez held it down at a zine-making table for El Rincón de Papel, a zine distro run by Fair Haven artist silencio. A few feet away, Candyce “Marsh” John, or Marshun, offered flash tattoos, with designs from a themed selection of well-loved fandoms.
Rhode Island artist k. funmilayo aileru, who came to Connecticut to vend for the event, said it was a “loving day” with good music, good people, and plenty of affirmations of xyr artwork. Quiana Stanley, who works in New Haven with the Arts and Ideas Festival, appreciated the “good, positive energy” blessing her first-ever time vending. She made sure to grab a tattoo from Marshun before the day was over.
Rich, who is an artist from New Britain studying studio art at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), used her table to display creations forged in her classrooms and dorm room. She said she likes collecting pretty things and recycling objects that once had a different function. Some of her materials included charging cords, bottle caps, and plastic toys. One of her flippy frogs had silver stars dangling from each of its hands, seeming to conjure something from the ether.
Rich wasted no time adding to her art collection, pasting stickers from fellow vendors Jacqueline Barnes and Tyasha/Ty on her laptop as she waited for people to walk by.
Both Barnes and Ty had participated in a panel earlier that day on radical zines, along with moderator Shannon Shird, founder of The House of Ease. “It’s part of zine culture to confront things no one wants to confront,” Barnes said.
Rich and Ty reflected this reality, both in their creations and in their appreciation for radical art. When I got to Rich’s table, she was reading a zine she’d gotten from Ty’s table, on abuse in lesbian relationships. Publishing in traditional routes means navigating gates and the keepers of those gates, but with zines, you can pass information quickly and on your own terms.
Kulturally Lit said their focus for this year’s DiasporaCon was on “graphic novels, comics and zines as tools for disrupting, reclaiming and reimagining our histories and futures.” Through the conference, they provided the intellectual grounds to discuss these topics in depth. Crucially for those in Connecticut and beyond, they also set up the perfect physical space for people to create those disruptions together, in real time.
This year, Kulturally Lit celebrates The Year of X: Radical and Revolutionary Reading, honoring Malcolm X and Medgar Evers in their 100th year. They are holding a monthly Year of X book club on the third Thursday of every month at Edgewood bookstore Possible Futures. Their next meeting is Thursday, May 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., where they’ll be discussing Ilyasah Shabazz’s book Growing Up X. Kulturally Lit is also collecting nominations through June 30 for New Haven’s poet laureate for 2025 – 26.
