30 Years of 'The Drag Queens of New York': An Exhibition and Conversation

The Genesis of a Groundbreaking Book

• 💡 The book "The Drag Queens of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide," published 30 years ago, was one of the first major publications to document New York City's underground drag scene of the 1990s.
• 🚀 The idea for the book originated from a casual conversation with an editor, leading the author, Julian Fleisher, to spend nearly three years researching and writing.
• 💰 Fleisher initially saw the book as a "side hustle" to support his singing career, funded by an advance that was quickly depleted by research expenses.

The 30th Anniversary Exhibition

• 🎨 The Howl! Arts exhibition celebrates the book's 30th anniversary, featuring never-before-seen photos, audio interviews, and handwritten notes from the era.
• 🖼️ A key visual element of the exhibition includes large-format, outtake portraits of drag queens from the original book sessions, shot on film by Brooke Williams.
• 📜 Under glass, visitors can find ephemera such as surveys, correspondences, and legal letters related to the book's content, offering a glimpse into the publishing process.

Evolution of the NYC Drag Scene

• 🎭 The 1990s New York drag scene was characterized by immense variety, encompassing theater drag, club drag, and performers who reigned in specific, distinct venues.
• 🌟 This era, pre-dating "RuPaul's Drag Race," saw drag bubbling up into mainstream consciousness through gossip pages and magazines, creating a sense of riding a significant cultural wave.
• 🎤 Performers like Charles Bush and Lady Bunny, with roots in theater and performance art, represent a different facet of the scene compared to those who emerged from the club circuit.

Drag, Identity, and Perception

• 💬 The exhibition and book explore the nuances and often-confused distinctions between drag, transvestism, and gender identity, as highlighted in an interview clip with the late performer Sweetie.
• ⚠️ Historically, drag has been driven underground due to anti-LGBTQ+ persecution, and there are concerns that current events could push the art form back into a more suppressed state.
• 🎭 While drag has become an international phenomenon, there's a discussion about how its mainstream success might lead to a more uniform aesthetic, potentially losing some of the diverse, "art school" quality of the 1990s scene.

The Exhibition Experience

• ✨ Visitors are encouraged to feel joy, delight, wonder, and pride in New York's cultural contributions when experiencing the exhibition.
• 🎧 The show includes audio elements, featuring hours of unearthed recordings from the book's research, though much of it is unbroadcastable due to its candid nature.
• 📍 The exhibition is on display at Howl! Arts, located at 250 Bowery Street, through Sunday, November 30th.