June 2, 2022 from 6pm–9pm
FREE, No RSVP necessary
On June 2, 1975, over 100 sex workers began an eight-day occupation at the Saint-Nizier Church in Lyon, France. They demanded the end of fines, stigma, police harassment, and the release of 10 sex workers who had been imprisoned a few days earlier for soliciting. June 2nd has since become a benchmark day for honoring sex workers all over the globe and recognizing their often-exploited working conditions. On International Whores’ Day 2022, MOCA and Kink Out, in collaboration with Free Speech Coalition, and Strippers’ United, present a day of gathering with panels, DJs, food trucks, and community organizers. Hosted by Emcee Natalie ’NatsHoney’ Clark , the program will feature contributions from Sinnamon Love and Lotus Lain, a DJ set by Ethical Drvgs, a pole performance by members of Strippers' United, and food courtesy of Detroit Vesey. This program creates a space for sex worker rights organizations and allies to come together. Organizers who are actively involved in sex work policy and other community speakers will be invited to participate. This program is part of ongoing conversations and collaborations that will take many forms and formats over time between MOCA and Kink Out, which produces events that bring people of intersectional identities with lived experience in BDSM culture together to share art, activism, work, and conversation.
Kink Out produces events that bring people of intersectional identities with lived experience in BDSM culture together to share art, activism, work, and conversation. Kink Out creates spaces for diverse leather and kink communities to celebrate and build alliances with each other. Events are helmed by rotating contributors who are queer, sex workers, people of color, trans, femme, butch, gender non-conforming, disabled, parents, non-monogamous, fat, elders, and/or leather dykes/fags.
Natalie 'NatsHoney' Clark is a spirited entrepreneur and creative artist. She formed Honey’s Artistic Pot, a collective artist establishment. Inspired by her artistry as an exotic dancer, she launched the company in 2007 and began mentoring other artists and guiding their artistic passions. Honey’s Artistic Pot’s primary goal was the fulfillment and wellness of artists through collaborations, mentorships, one-on-one consulting, sponsorships, and event production. NatsHoney’s knowledge of advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership abilities come from her 12yrs at the forefront of the medicinal cannabis collective industry. As a president of two pre-ICO collectives in Los Angeles (2005 - 2017), she worked closely with city liaison groups GLACA, attended Oaksterdam college, and actively protested unfair city laws. Currently, NatsHoney heads the development and direction of Artists Plex LLC. An emerging space for Strip Artists and their allies to create art and build small businesses. Today, she enjoys adventures with her son in her spare time, catching up with loved ones, and volunteering for the labor organization ‘Strippers United.’ And of course, Pole Dancing at home!
Lotus Lain has been a Dominatrix, Cam Model & Adult Performer since 2012. She is now the Adult Industry Advocate for the Free Speech Coalition- the adult industry’s trade association; she’s a Producer and Intimacy Coordinator for tv & film; a Sex Work Consultant & an Activist working with ACLU to Decriminalize Sex Work in CA. She continues to work towards influencing change around the way sex workers are portrayed in mainstream media while shifting the perspective of how explicit sex stories are told.
Sinnamon Love is a visual artist, community organizer, and Black Feminist Pornographer living with a traumatic brain injury in NYC. For almost 30 years, this AVN & Urban X Awards Hall of Fame inductee has created media that shifts narratives around sex work, BDSM, and (grand)motherhood. At the top of 2022, Sinnamon joined the restructure team at the National Survivor Network, the largest network of anti-trafficking organizations, to help them move towards a pro-sex work stance. In 2021, she participated in a Delphi Panel at Boston University, creating factual consent-based sex education curriculum for US high school students. In 2020, Love founded the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Collective, a national human rights organization dedicated to bridging the race-based, wage gap in the online sex trades by providing access to mental health resources, financial assistance, and peer-to-peer education. In 2018 & 2020 she served as a Fellow of the Sex Worker Giving Circle at Third Wave Fund, the first-ever philanthropic organization to put sex workers in a position of grant-making. As an out, front-facing sex worker with a large following, Sinnamon has been profiled in almost every major publication including Fast Company, Forbes, Business Insider, GQ, NPR, and ABC News' FiveThirtyEight. Love's writing can be found in "The Feminist Porn Book: Politics of Producing Pleasure" (Feminist Press,) "50 Writers on 50 Shades of Grey" (Smart Pop,) and "'Hos Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing about Life, Love, Money, and Sex" (Soft Skull Press.) You can also find her writing in the upcoming anthology, "Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities" (Haymarket Press.) Love is a kinky, bi, poly, grownup, vibe curator, yogi, Hip Hop & House head, writer, cannabis enthusiast, recovering serial monogamist, #naturallygrey, and happily #singleinbrooklyn.
Pepper Spray is a non-binary entertainer and USC-trained engineer. Driven towards decolonized sustainable development, Pepper has launched two mutual aid initiatives: the LA Community Solar Fridge (@lacommunitysolarfridge) which designs and builds solar-powered infrastructure for food rescue & distribution, and menstrualhygienecoalition.com, a research coalition building the ultimate free recipe book for menstrual hygiene products. Pepper Spray blends visual art, found object and fiber art, pole and interpretive dance to tell stories, inspire and heal during live and virtual performance. They are the lead engineer, financial planner and an invested member in @artistsplex . Follow their safe-for-work account @pepperspray_official and their full virtual portfolio @iampepperspray
Bama is a pole artist, dance teacher, stripper, performer, and navy veteran originally hailing from Alabama and Mississippi. Bama started her pole journey in April of 2016 after being medically retired from the military after serving 4 years honorably in the Navy. Pole became more than just a way for her to heal, but a way of life.
Honey Lestrange. Quirky, crafty, and a little sassy, Honey Lestrange is a born and bred Valley girl who’s been dancing for 10 years. After a career dancing in the coolest dive bars in LA came to an abrupt end, Honey turned her attention to continuing her lifelong passion of activism, doing sex work advocacy with Strippers United. When she’s not on the picket line or organizing fundraisers, Honey can be found crocheting, tending to a plethora of plants and pets, or spending time with family.
Daphne Nguyen (aka Ethical Drvgs) is a multidisciplinary visual/performance artist. As a trans and sex worker advocate, her art is centered around a familiar thesis as her field of work. Grounding people in the present moment, her performances include body modification, body endurance, as well as sharing a glimpse of the trans experience to create a sense of relatability that expands the human perspective beyond a standard fetishized and tokenized lens.
Wonmi’s WAREHOUSE Programs is organized by Alex Sloane, Associate Curator of Performance and Programs, with Brian Dang, Programming Coordinator.
Wonmi's WAREHOUSE Programs is founded by Wonmi & Kihong Kwon and Family.
International Whores’ Day 2022 presented by The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), June 2, 2022, at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Photos by Elon Schoenholz.
