Rachel Nicholas, Assistant Spectrum Editor
On Sept. 11, Odin’s Underground became a place for pirates, punk music and mutual aid.
For $10, attendees could walk into the benefit hosted by Punks4Liberation dressed as a pirate, in their strangest outfit or whatever they chose to wear. The event combined a night of live music with an effort to raise money and awareness for people affected by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
For three years, Sudan has faced a devastating humanitarian crisis since fighting broke out amongst the country, leaving millions displaced and facing uncertainty, according to the UNICEF website.
The benefit was organized as a way for the local punk community to come together around an issue happening thousands of miles away and to turn a larger conflict into something tangible for the local community.
While the cause was serious, the event itself was made to be anything but traditional. The pirate theme further gave attendees a chance to participate in the event, adding their own flair to the night.
“This is my first time coming to an event like this, and the idea of a pirate theme is really cool,” said William Levy, an out-of-state college student.
Levy was visiting his friends in Richmond when he saw the flyer for the event on P4L’s Instagram.
The theme also fits with the spirit of P4L, which has used punk spaces in the past as a way to bring people together around political causes and shared communities, as previously reported by the CT.
Alongside the music, local punk vendors sold handmade items throughout the night. The tables consisted of posters, knick-knacks, clothing, jewelry and more.
Lumen Magnolia, a Richmond local, who sells craft items under the name Count Cvntula, has been making their art for several years. They decided to use the event as a way to branch out and sell to more people in the punk community.
“I design all my collages by hand and then blow them up to make the posters,” Magnolia said. “I made a TikTok about a phrase on one of my buttons and it just blew up.”
For the vendors, participating offered a way to combine their creative work with a cause they supported. It also allowed them to showcase their items and branch out to new people, according to Magnolia.
Sappho Heavey and Jessie Phillips, co-owners of Sacred and Profane clothing brand, further commented on being able to display their work while supporting a good cause.
“The stuff that’s going on over there, we don’t have to deal with that,” Phillips said. “We just need to band together to support them, even just the $10 at the door is a benefit to them.”
After meeting in community college, Heavey and Jessie Phillips realized they both have the same creative passion. Being at the event allows them to highlight the pro-environmental way they run their business, on par with the theme of the night.
“Everything we make is either handmade or upcycled from things meant for landfills,” Heavey said. “It’s just another step of not wasting stuff, using the materials alright out in the world and bettering them through art.”
As trinkets exchanged hands and performers sang their last songs, the event was more than just a swashbuckling showcase. It was an example of how Richmond’s punk scene used its own spaces, art and creativity to support another community in crisis.