About
Detroit based. Texas rooted. Michigan raised.
Mercedes Pergande is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and curator that has been carving her own unique styles of artistry and gathering for the majority of her life. As a child, art, especially writing verse, has always been a form of healing and expression for her. Poetry came to the forefront of her artistic styles after she was gifted her “A Rose That Grew From Concrete'' by Tupac Shakur. The book, consisting of the late icon's unpublished work, taught her that writing and art could be raw, real, and purposeful. Opening the book opened a whole new world of passionate creativity for her, just when she needed it most. She commonly says simply put that “Poetry saved my life”. Mercedes is open for poetry commissions and performance bookings.
Mercedes studied at Eastern Michigan and Wayne State University majoring in International Relations and Communications. She offers specialized services in talent acquisition, event curation, community engagement, and communications. Mercedes currently works at the Detroit based Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation as their communications associate, crosscutting all programs and regions she is proud to work towards quality of life improvements in communities in Michigan and New York. She previously served at Southwest Detroit nonprofit Freedom House Detroit, a leader in humanitarian aid protections that serves survivors of persecution and torture. She is also a member of Michigan based poetry collective, The Guild, is a key consultant for visual design and branding agency, The Elu Studio, a committee member for the Detroit City Council's Immigration Task Force, as well as a member/owner and dual committee member for the Detroit People's Food Co-Op. As well as her newest brain child, Kindred Spirits - curated events that honor the history of Detroit poetry, community building, networking and joy, with a gravity that centers BIWOC and benefits all.
It is her passion for creativity with purpose that leads her to the artistic and impactful world of curation and communications. Mercedes prides herself on building bridges between communities, bringing clarity to complex planning, and offering unique and interesting concepts to her clients. By blending her personal background with her skills for engaging, connecting, and thoughtful story telling she has been able to raise significant support for the causes and artists she admires. Mercedes is open for commissions and consulting as it relates to talent acquisition, event planning, community engagement, event curation, and communications.
Mercedes is no longer accepting graphic design clients.
Design
"As an organizational communicator, I am impressed with the fundraising appeals created by Mercedes for Freedom House Detroit. They craftily present issues through the lens of credible personal stories, creating a compelling argument in a striking graphic package to support this mission. I have used this campaign as an example for our Schweitzer Fellows in how to integrate advocacy and organizational awareness through fundraising."
- Dennis Archambault, Vice President, Public Affairs
Poetry
You ever had to scrub soul out the floorboards?
You ever had to bleach a memory out the corners?
You ever had to get on your knees and pray the stains away?
This ain't my first time cleaning house
I've watched sleeping mothers reach for children
That will only ever live on in their dreams
Ain't no resting in peace only leaning on pieces on memory
-
Can we afford to pay attention?
Is a life only as valuable as the time we can spare?
Is that all another's life is but a spare part to our own?
When I ask you how you are
It's a small life raft if you need one
I know what it feels like to drown in your own bedroom
Sometimes "I'm good" means I don't know the name of this feeling
Sometimes "how about you?" means ask me again
I need some body to mean it
We'll dig the skeletons out our closet to make us whole again
To not be ok is entirely human and to tell the truth telling the truth isn't
Mental illness hides in the corners of picture perfect homes
The american dream got nightmares
And is to afraid to wake up
Because we know, reality is worse
So when I ask you if you're ok, how are you doing, how've you been?
I mean it
And when you answer
I need you to make both our worlds stop spinning and collide
So if for just one moment, we can exist
Honestly and violently
And not be wasting our time
I need you to waste your breath on me
Let's compare scars
I'll show the constellations that occupy our skin
So on the days where the sun seems 93 million miles away from rising again
Remember you are the brightest light since the 7th
And if today is the darkest dark you've ever had
Don't forget there will always be a tomorrow...
An excerpt from: My Boys - Mercedes Pergande
I guess it don't count when the animal in alien
Doesn't speak your language
Is too foreign to fathom deserving of humanity
I will tell them
How the world fixed its mouth to bite the hand that picks the food that feeds them
And how the body attached to the hand could do nothing
Because what the f**k are you supposed to do without your hand
When before you can make a fist
They have already tilled your blood back into the dirt
And the hospital promptly reminds you, you do not exist
That bottom lines still come above flat lines
And we ain't all got the same lifelines
Cuz you bought yours
But I can't buy mine
I can't buy time
I ain't got enough
To sip fine wine
Grapes of wrath wage low range war
And these vines don't qualify for stimuli
So find us here
Still under the sun
Skin wrinkling like a raisin
Smiles cracking the surface
Giving purpose to these illegal dreams deferred
An excerpt from: Under the Sun - Mercedes Pergande
