Steampunk POC: Nivi Hicks (African-American, Spanish, Lebanese)

Well, my heritage for that is very, very…very far back there, but finding it out made me almost giggle with glee because I love the Lebanese culture but, from what I discovered, is I enjoy it from a more modern-day perspective. I found it a bit too difficult for a novice of steampunk like me to incorporate the historical attire into my wardrobe without doing it from scratch, so I decided to go with a blanket approach with the Eastern world. India, Turkey, and even dabble a bit in Ottoman history. It then became what I felt, more fruitful creative breeding grounds for me  once I started doing a bit more research into what I wanted to bring into steampunk cultural wise.

It strikes me that your non-white steampunk outfits, particularly those tagged “Bombay steampunk,” look mighty comfortable! Do you find there is a difference in wearing a conventional Eurocentric steampunk outfit, with big foofy skirts and all, versus wearing the non-white steampunk outfits which look a lot looser? 

Yes and no. I believe that there are certain items in various cultures in regards to the fashion sense that are just a pain in the butt. Eurocentrics have corsets to tie and Bollywood Babes have Saris…both look amazing when worn, both are a pain to get right!

What is the steampunk scene like in Utah? Where would a new Utah steampunk go to get started? 

The scene here in Utah is growing, growing, growing! I’m proud to see it start to mix itself into the other conventions here. There’s panels on steampunk weaponry, origin, literature, and more. We have local designers, parlors, and tea houses that cater to the steampunk feel now, and even socials were steampunkians get together outside of the convention atmosphere.

When is SaltCity Steamfest? Where were the great challenges in hosting the con? 

SaltCity Steamfest is due to debut July 27-28 and are very excited to put Utah on the map as a Steampunk Convention location. We are bringing out as many guest as we can afford. We are definitly an underdog of our own but, thanks to an awesome team of people, we’re going to do amazing! Anyone interested can check out the website: www.saltcitysteamfest.com

Who are your special guests for SaltCity Steamfest? Any event you think attendees definitely have to check out? 

So far we have the Steampunk Fett himself John Strangeway and Jon Magnifico as confirmed guest. Locally we have a woman who recreates Victorian-themed balls and will be actually hosting our ball at the festival. We also have the renown Damsel In This Dress who will be participating as a vendor, our own Absinthe Parlour Hair Salon and Straight Razor Barber who will be doing shaves on site and, of course, tea time. It can’t be a convention without tea time.

What drew you to steampunk in the first place? 

Like many others, the fashion at first. The costuming aspect of Steampunk Then I dug deeper and found out the possibilities within table top gaming, books, and collectibles.

Table-top gaming! Do you do table-top gaming? If you do, how do you steampunk up your table-top games? 

I’ve never gotten into tabletop gaming outside of D&D, though I heard Warhammer 40k and Dystopia Wars have some bombastic steampunk elements to them.

How did you get into table-top gaming? Are there other black women geeks like yourself in SLC? Believe it or not, my father got me into it! He’s been the supporter of my antiques since day one. As for there being other black women geek-a-licious in the state…oh yes! There’s a good group of us, though we are often spread by distance. They are into gaming, larping, cosplay, and more!

Do you think steampunk is white-washed, as a subculture or fandom? Are there a lot of steampunk POC in Utah? 

I do think that Steampunk started off being white-washed due to where it started springing to life, but I don’t think it could EVER be white-washed completely. There are a good amount of POC here in Utah, but most are very, very shy about their hobbies and nerdoms. I hope to change that, bit by bit.

What do you think it would take for POC to be less shy about their nerdom? 

I think it’s still the line of “is it acceptable for ‘us’ to be geeky.” In many cases, it’s within our own culture where we get the slander on what we adore. A fellow Chocolate Covered Cosplay member, Ashphord Jacoway, though not a Steampunk, expresses a beautiful monologue entitled, “I wish my life was an RPG” that goes through the bliss and trials of being a black girl in the genre.

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