A drag queen stands at a site of violence: Lee-Ann Olwage’s best photograph

‘Belinda wanted to be Miss Drag Queen Africa. Part of the competition involved visiting places where violence had happened. “If we don’t reclaim them,” she said, “it’s like we don’t exist”’I have always been interested in gender and identity stories. In South Africa, we have a strong liberal constitution on paper for queer rights, but the reality on the streets – the hate crimes, the animosity in the workplace and in social settings – is very different. I was curious about where people could go not only to feel safe but to feel celebrated for who they are, and feel truly embraced. That led me to the drag pageant scene.I would go to photograph pageants every weekend, and every Monday I would get messages from the people I’d photographed asking me to send the pictures – so I had a lot of instant feedback on the work I was making. I was using harsh lighting to play with the idea of masculine and feminine, to emphasise the contrast between the strong jawlines and the feminine personae. But there’s no one more honest than a drag queen, and very early on, someone told me they really didn’t like the picture I’d taken of them. Continue reading...

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Paul Mescal is better than ever in The History of Sound – but I wanted more

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Paul Mescal is better than ever in The History of Sound – but I wanted more

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