The House of Venus

Written By Pink Flowers

Welcome to the house of Venus, y’all — for realz!

I always wanted to be a mother. That ain’t really true. I think I always wanted to be a heroine and that translated into wanting to be an actress. I was “Susie” way before anyone ever explained the word trans to me. I was never unhappy in my body. My body happily accommodated me by giving me curves at an early age. My milkshake brought all the boys to the yard.

I think I’ve always found “houses” to belong to. I played house with plenty of boys. From the time I was seven years old, I knew how to get boys to do what I wanted and they liked to take me in the closet. I was in touch with the goddess, and knew one of my roles in life was to spread a lot of love. For a lot of years I confused spreading love with having sex, but that’s mostly ‘cause we live in a world that tells us if we can’t sell it, it ain’t worth shit. Selling love isn’t too conventional. Sell sex’s itself.

Later, I played Charlie’s Angels with a group of kids who’d been designated male at birth but, like me, were comfortable stepping into female identity. I was the “Kelly.” I think they made me her ‘cause no one saw me as the smart one and no one thought I was pretty. I’ve always been part of a queer posse. It wasn’t until the movie “Paris is Burning” broke out in the 1990’s that I saw the full potential of being part a queer family—a gay gang. I wanted to be part of a house, but assumed I was past my prime.

Now, I own a house and I been thinking about how to put it to the best use. I think I have a lot to offer young queer folks who need a home. I’m not trying to start a charity. These waifs will have to bring something to the table—talent, a skill, desire, magick. The purpose of a house is to take home trophies! The house has to establish itself as formidable. The mother’s role is to whip her children into shape. She molds them into a shining array of jewels and then wears them to the ball.

Ladies and gentlemen and gender-noncomforming: I give you the House of Venus. A space to explore love and beauty in all its incarnations. Don’t come late—come fierce. Who’s ready to be legendary?

Pink Flowers

Pink Flowers is a Black trans artist, peacemaker, educator, and pleasure activist whose work lives at the intersection of embodiment, governance, and cultural transformation. Trained in Theater of the Oppressed, Art of Hosting, and Navajo-informed Peacemaking practices, Pink designs spaces where conflict can be addressed, power can be examined, and joy can be reclaimed.

Her artistic and pedagogical practice draws from African trickster cosmology, Brazilian Joker traditions, shamanic ritual, and cooperative economics. She is the founder of the award-winning Falconworks Theater Company (2005–2021), which used popular theater to build civic capacity and participatory leadership in historically marginalized communities.

Pink served for over five years as a trained Peacemaker in the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, facilitating restorative processes within the New York City court system. From 2015–2018, she worked in cooperative business development with the Center for Family Life, supporting worker-owned enterprises in immigrant communities.

She currently serves as Director of Education and Training for the Inter-Cooperative Council in Ann Arbor, where she leads leadership development and conflict engagement initiatives. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally, including at the Stretch Festival in Berlin and the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference.

Across ritual, performance, mediation, and institutional design, Pink’s work asks a central question:

What becomes possible when we refuse shame and choose conscious power instead?

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