From DC to Portland to Louisiana, her journey's been riddled with punk shows, zines, and most prominently now, pottery.

Osa Atoe makes beautiful and function terracotta pottery carved with geometric patterns and familiar colors. DNO recently had the chance to speak with Osa about her path to Louisiana and pottery, which has taken her from coast to coast through punk show after punk show and several DIY communities.

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Osa Atoe created Shotgun Seamstress, a black punk fanzine written, compiled and laid out by hand. The zine tries to show varied experiences of  “alternative” black folks, black punks, and many different facets of black outsider identity: black trans ex-punk, young Nigerian punks, a 60-year-old free jazz musician, biracial British art-punk, and black drag queen performance artists from places like New York and Berlin. You can grab the anthology, single issues, or read a few issues digitally on the Shotgun Seamstress blog.

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... of course punk rock was my biggest mentor. Punk encourages everyone to participate and don't let any excuse hold you back. If you don't have a guitar, borrow one. If you can't play music, try anyway or else book a show or write a zine about your favorite band. Also, feminism & punk were combined for me from the beginning because of riot grrrl, so I felt doubly encouraged by both of those ideologies.

Continue reading Talking Punk and Pottery with Osa Atoe.

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