{"id":5483,"date":"2024-07-29T00:31:19","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T00:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/drag-race-star-jinkx-monsoon-in-queen-a-liverpool-exhibition-by-magnus-hastings\/"},"modified":"2024-07-29T00:31:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T00:31:19","slug":"drag-race-star-jinkx-monsoon-in-queen-a-liverpool-exhibition-by-magnus-hastings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/drag-race-star-jinkx-monsoon-in-queen-a-liverpool-exhibition-by-magnus-hastings\/","title":{"rendered":"Drag Race star Jinkx Monsoon in Queen, a Liverpool exhibition by Magnus Hastings"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"MagnusMagnus Hastings<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Pretentious Dross (centre) told BBC News she hopes the exhibition teaches people about a variety of drag styles (Left to right: Franz Genau, Rodger, Pretentious Dross, Thicc Van Dyke, Lexi Blac)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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In an unexpectedly hot day in May, Magnus Hastings is in a back alley behind a gay bar in Liverpool with 35 local drag queens.<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long way from home for the Los Angeles-based photographer, usually more accustomed to shooting in studios with big name LGBT celebrities, but he\u2019s doing it in the name of his favourite art form.<\/p>\n

Two months later and the photographs from his day in the alley – which he and several of the queens taking part jokingly call his \u201cinitiation into the Liverpool gay scene\u201d – are now at the heart of a \u201cone-of-a-kind\u201d exhibition opening at the start of the city\u2019s Pride celebrations.<\/p>\n

Queen by Magnus Hastings, at the Walker Art Gallery, features some of the biggest names from the international drag scene – Jinkx Monsoon, Shea Coulee, Bob the Drag Queen, to name but a few.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MagnusMagnus Hastings<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Photographs featuring local Liverpool drag queens were commissioned especially for the exhibition and taken behind The Lisbon, one of Liverpool’s oldest gay bars. (Left to right: Sister Sister, Naya Thorn, Ketona Madrave, Babes Darling and Diva D)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"MagnusMagnus Hastings<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The exhibition has images of world famous drag queens like Jinkx Monsoon, who recently won series 7 of Drag Race All Stars.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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But during a private viewing, it\u2019s the back-alley images of the locals rather than the stars of Ru Paul\u2019s Drag Race who are drawing the crowds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted this exhibition to be about the art of drag; not just about a TV show. I\u2019ve never wanted to [photograph] people just because they\u2019ve been on Drag Race, it\u2019s about who inspires me and who I get inspiration from.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Danny Beard has described themselves as the “poster girl” of the exhibition thanks to this image which features on a 10ft banner outside the gallery.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"MagnusMagnus Hastings<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Several images of Australian queen Courtney Act feature in the exhibit<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Having won series four of Drag Race UK, Danny Beard, who uses they\/them pronouns, knows all too well the benefits of their work being being given a prominent platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I ever did drag was at Liverpool Pride a long time ago. I looked absolutely awful and I called myself Katie Halfprice, but I just fell in love with the empowering experience that it is,\u201d they told BBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fast forward to the present day and their drag has made them a household name. They\u2018re regularly on Prime Time TV, have their own show on BBC Radio One, and are now the poster girl for the Hastings exhibition.<\/p>\n

Their face is plastered across the city, and on a 10ft advertising banner at the front of the gallery, just yards from the spot where it all began at Liverpool Pride.<\/p>\n

For Danny Beard, though, the real magic of Hastings\u2019 work is about championing the diversity of local drag queens who haven\u2019t been given – or don\u2019t want – a platform like Ru Paul\u2019s Drag Race.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MagnusMagnus Hastings<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Magnus Hastings photographed 35 local queens in one day after flying from Los Angeles to Liverpool (Left to right: Violet Pain, Big Dee, Minnie and Lady Sian)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Raja, who won series three of Drag Race, is well-known for high-fashion looks and dramatic outfits.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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One of those local queens is Pretentious Dross, who describes herself as \u201cLiverpool\u2019s arthouse witch, masher of lips and prancer of stages\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to BBC News while wearing pointed elf ears, huge jewels and a black Thierry Mugler vampire dress, she says she hopes the exhibition will help change people\u2019s idea of what drag is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a misconception that drag is just people doing hyper-femme, gowns, wigs, make-up, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat these images show is that there are as many different ways to do drag as there are people in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MagnusMagnus Hastings<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Magnus Hastings rarely gets in front of the camera himself<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"MagnusMagnus Hastings<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Magnus likes to showcase the individuality of each drag queen<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Hastings himself appears in just one of the photographs, alongside Australian drag queen Courteny Act.<\/p>\n

Despite his love for the art, he\u2019s never stepped in front of the camera in drag.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love drag – when I was younger I used to steal my sister\u2019s clothes, and shoes and I\u2019d run around naked with my mum\u2019s feather boa lip-syncing to songs, but I was sort of ashamed of it and I locked it down,\u201d he tells BBC News.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for me, my work is my way of doing drag. I\u2019m not an observer, I\u2019m a participant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s how I express my little drag child through the work I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queen by Magnus Hastings is at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 27 July \u2013 25 August 2024<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magnus Hastings Pretentious Dross (centre) told BBC News she hopes the exhibition teaches people about a variety of drag styles (Left to right: Franz Genau, Rodger, Pretentious Dross, Thicc Van Dyke, Lexi Blac) In an unexpectedly hot day in May, Magnus Hastings is in a back alley behind a gay bar in Liverpool with 35 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2948,3551,3553,3549,1145,3552,3550,1776,2651,1828],"class_list":["post-5483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-pictures","tag-drag","tag-exhibition","tag-hastings","tag-jinkx","tag-liverpool","tag-magnus","tag-monsoon","tag-queen","tag-race","tag-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5485,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5483\/revisions\/5485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}