Hold Me Through This: Save Firme Arte (Injury + Frozen Income)

A queer Indigenous Two-Spirit artist healing from a fractured knee while the California Franchise Tax Board blocks shop payouts.

Hi, I’m Vedder. I’m a queer Indigenous Two-Spirit artist and the hands behind @firmearte and @brujababecosmetics. For years, I’ve made work that feels like an altar for our community. Right now my body forced me into stillness. I fractured my knee during a seizure episode over the holidays, and I can’t walk for 4–6 weeks. I’m stuck upstairs in a two-story walk-up in Oakland, I’m out of money for food, and the income I normally rely on is frozen because the California Franchise Tax Board has blocked my shop payouts. I hate asking, but I need help getting through this. Thank you for holding me through this.

This fundraiser is for my survival and recovery while I heal and get my income unfrozen. If you can donate or share, it makes an immediate difference.

My community has held me through my cervical cancer diagnosis in 2019, endometriosis, multiple surgeries, and they’ve stood by me again through repeated hospital trips in 2025. 2025 hit like a freight train. I’m still here, but I’m not going to pretend it didn’t take everything out of me.

For years, I poured my heart into advocating for the freedom of Angelo Vasquez formally @brujobeyondbars, who was innocently incarcerated as a child and tried as an adult. Our story and my role as his partner and advocate were publicly documented, and my community helped us fight that fight by donating, sharing, and showing up. I want to say this clearly: what we did was just and true, and it mattered. What he chose to do with his freedom after release was his own choice, and this fundraiser is not about him.

When Angelo left, it didn’t just end a relationship. It cracked my identity. I ended up in a place where I forgot who I was and I forgot my magick. I’ve been rebuilding it piece by piece, and honestly, making my work again is how I found my way back to myself.

Here’s what connects that chapter to where I am now: a big reason my tax situation is so tangled is because it started while Angelo was still incarcerated. For years I was in survival mode: advocating, working, paying for calls, travel, legal support, and trying to keep a life together through a phone screen while also dealing with major medical crises. In that kind of constant pressure, my finances stopped being “normal” and turned into triage. Things that should’ve been handled, like filings and setting money aside, fell behind. I didn’t fully understand how bad it had gotten until the consequences hit me all at once. Now I’m dealing with the reality of it: my payouts are blocked, my income is frozen, and I’m trying to fix it in the middle of an injury that has me unable to walk.

My work has always been a kind of altar. A place where queer people, trans people, tender people, and feral little magic-makers come to breathe. I make art and objects and language for survival, for devotion, for getting through another week in a world that loves to pretend we’re disposable. The reason this is so hard to post is because I’m usually the one offering the spell, not asking for the shelter.

But right now I need the shelter. And I trust my community because I’ve watched you show up, again and again, in the comments, in the DMs, in the shares, in the way you hold each other.

Oakland chapter

For so long I built community through wires and screens, praying the world would one day feel touchable again. Now I’m in an LGBTQ safe house with artists and musicians, and every day is a reminder: community is not an idea. It’s a practice. It’s someone bringing you water. It’s laughter from the other room. It’s being safe enough to exhale.

Even with all the setbacks, I’m happy. I’m inspired. I’m held. And I’m asking for your help to get through this recovery window so I can keep building this next chapter.

Grateful for queer community. Grateful for our witchy community. We’re not meant to survive alone. ✨

Supporting me right now is supporting the continued existence of my work. When I can walk again and my income is unfrozen, I’m going to keep making what I’ve always made: art, ritual, language, and care for our people.

I’m asking for:

• Monetary donations for food and basic living costs (rent, utilities, transportation, recovery needs).

• Grocery support if you’re able to help that way (delivery or gift cards are easiest while I can’t get around).

• Local Oakland, CA support if you’re nearby and want to help in a practical way (grocery drop-offs, household essentials, or helping coordinate a fridge pickup/delivery). DM me and I’ll share details privately.

If you want to help but can’t donate cash, grocery support is huge right now:

• Grocery delivery (Walmart/Doordash /Instacart style)

• Gift cards for groceries

• Basic staples + easy meals

If you’re helping with groceries or local support in Oakland, DM me and I’ll send the details privately.

Other ways to help: If you want to support but can’t donate cash, I made an Amazon wish list with household essentials (supplies, basics, and a few bigger needs like a fridge). Anything purchased helps immediately while I’m stuck upstairs recovering. I’ll keep the link available so people can choose what feels doable. ✨

 Thank you for reading and for caring. If you’re able to help beyond donating, we’re also looking for legal guidance or trusted referrals as we navigate frozen income and tax complications. I’m doing the work, but I’m also learning to let myself be held. Being a Two-Spirit Indigenous person in this political climate adds another layer of fear and urgency to all of it. If you have resources, advice, or someone we should talk to, please reach out. That kind of support is survival. If you know someone who can help us navigate this, please don’t assume someone else will. Please be the person who reaches out. [email redacted] or DM us on IG @firmearte

GoFundMe fees note: GoFundMe is free to start, but there’s a transaction processing fee per donation (commonly 2.9% + $0.30 in the U.S.), and donors can optionally leave a tip to GoFundMe.

(Translation: I’m building a small buffer so I don’t get dunked on by processing fees and bad luck.)

Thank you for reading, sharing, donating, and holding me through this. ✨