Melanie Stevens is an artist, illustrator, and writer. She is the creator of the graphic novel series,WaterShed, and the co-founder and co-curator of Nat Turner Project, a fugitive gallery space that provides funding and spaces for artists of color to create or express their own language within and without the parameters of racial commodification or designation. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree for Political Science from Yale University and her Masters of Fine Arts degree for Visual Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she currently teaches.