The Ana-Literary Magazine Release Party

“We founded The Ana as a safe space where artists can share their work without having their trauma exploited. Expecting artists to trauma-bond while repackaging it as diversity is disgusting. Other writers and I have been in situations where our suffering is treated as the only worthwhile aspect of our humanity. They want my pain, and not my pleasure. Even then, I have felt forced to water-down my art so that it can fit within a monolithic definition of a pleasure I’m allotted. And while we can never divorce systemic trauma from a person’s life, it is imporatnt to expand what we expect from artists. And it is important to re-define what an audience expects from artists. The Ana recognizes the politcal power of a joyous moment and a painful one, the power of anger and of sadness. We hold space for every experience. This magazine is a celebration of humanity—nuanced humanity. All of it.”

London Pinkney