About the Artists

The Wash House Collective:

Michelle M. Sierra is a writer and photographer focused on the strength and beauty lying inside the history of families and their everyday environment. Her art has been internationally displayed on the wall, stage and radio. She is a founding member of The Wash House Collective and currently leads fine arts programming for youth in her community.

Donna J. Watson teaches writing at San Diego City College and is founding member and editor of City Works Press. Her poetry and fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies such as The Drumming Between Us, Catalyst, Sunshine Noir, and Hunger and Thirst. Her genealogical research Blacksong archives her matrilineal family history. Performance work includes Lavanderia, F-Stop, and Uncommon Grounds. When not teaching, she spends time on her farm in Bucks County, PA writing and cultivating food for her family and surrounding community.

Lucia Gbaya-Kanga teaches at Moore College of Art & Design and Eastern University’s School for Social Change. She has performed at various venues in Philadelphia and San Diego, and her work focuses on issues such as fragmentation, displacement, exile, war, and relationships between mother and child. Her recent publications can be found in Sunshine Noir, Chain (Issue 12: facts), and Pilot.

Yukimi Levas-Anderson is a visual artist who lives and creates in San Diego, CA. She began shooting photography for Lavanderia as another way to find extraordinary moments in ordinary life. Her photography has been featured in Sunshine Noir, the Voz Alta Gallery, as well as in various art shows in San Diego. She works as a hairstylist in South Park and lives with her husband in North Park.

D. Zenani Mzube writes and teaches in San Diego, California. Her work has been published in the anthologies Nommogeneity, San Diego City College’s City Works, and Sunshine Noir. She is currently (and feverishly) working on a series of vignettes entitled Black Girls Growing, while Leaving Mommy, a memoir (about whom else?) licks her dreams like a tongueless stalker.