➤ CARIBBEAN DRAG, from p.14
gression, and community-building,
Caribbean drag artists use popular
culture to reconfi gure queer
living through the lessons passed
down to us from ancestral teachers.
Moving through histories of
slavery, indenture, and indigenous
genocide, queer Caribbean communities
have created places for
one another and enacted their own
non-normative pleasures and desires
through traditions of transgressive
celebration, joy, pleasure,
and desire — most notably, music,
dance, comedy, and story-telling.
Using the “mash-up” as method,
Caribbean drag critiques the notion
that queerness and Caribbeanness
cannot exist simultaneously.
Instead, whether located in
the region or in diaspora, these
artists use their bodies to articulate
forms of sexual diversity that
speak a language all of their own
— refusing the the queer mainstream’s
hegemonic vernacular.
Long-standing legacies based in
distinct forms of Caribbean gender
performance have moved through
queens, kings, and other queer
and trans artists such as Angelique
Ali, Karma Sutra, and Sarah
Marsala in New York, Michelle
Ross, Devine Darlin, Jada Hudson,
and Tynomi Banks in Toronto, and
Mizz Jinnay in Trinidad and Tobago,
among others. Distinct spaces
of Caribbean drag like the Gay Caribbean
USA Pageant have created
affi rming and transformative celebrations
of drag and Caribbean
culture in Brooklyn.
According to Mohamed Q. Amin,
the founder and and executive director
of the Caribbean Equality
Project, “Founded by Marlon
Gervis in 2009, the inauguration of
the pageant gained Caribbean media
attention, which fueled needed
and meaningful discussions on
the acceptance and dynamics of
queer Caribbean identities in the
diaspora. The pageant created an
inclusive opportunity for Afro and
Indo-Caribbean drag queens and
trans women to showcase their
work while speaking out against
homophobia and anti-LGBTQ hate
violence in the Caribbean. Some of
the notable contestants included
Monét X Change, who competed
as Miss Saint Lucia and was pronounced
winner of the 2014 Gay
Caribbean USA Pageant.”
PHOTO CARIBBEAN EQUALITY PROJECT
Stefon Royce
PHOTO CARIBBEAN EQUALITY PROJECT
Bijuriya.
PHOTO CARIBBEAN EQUALITY PROJECT
Mohini, De Dancin’ Diva.
Emerging out of these legacies,
contemporary Caribbean drag artists
remind us what it means to
cultivate embodied languages to
speak our distinct histories and
contemporary positions as well as
to mount resistance and rehearse
futures of anti-oppressive worlds
to come. Eighteen Caribbean drag
queens from the US, Canada, and
the Caribbean region speak here
about what coalition and liberation
work means to them.
Jahlisa A. Ross (@jahlove_thebrand)
Garifuna-American
Staten Island
“I am a show-stopping dancing
diva. In my culture, we express
ourselves through movement, and I
have adapted that into my drag art.
My liberation happens every time I
perform in drag because I feel free. I
have infused the love I have for entertainment
with HIV advocacy into
Michelle Ross.
Detoxx Bústi-ae.
Kimora Amour.
my art.”
PHOTO CARIBBEAN EQUALITY PROJECT
PHOTO CARIBBEAN EQUALITY PROJECT
PHOTO CARIBBEAN EQUALITY PROJECT
DJ Nina Flowers (@djninafl owers)
Puerto Rican
Denver
“Nina Flowers is an androgynous,
mysterious, edgy, sensual, and fun.
The world is experiencing some
drastic changes due to our current
and devastating situation. Artistically,
and I speak from personal
experience, we have been forced
to put our careers on hold and wait
until the pandemic is over. There’s
not much room for anything else. It’s
been like a never-ending nightmare.
I’m sure most of our fellow artists
feel the same.”
Phil Atioh (@phil_atioh)
Afro-Jamaican-Canadian
Toronto
“Phil expresses his Caribbean identity
through his diverse song choices
and, of course, his waistline. When
his hips are moving, there isn’t a
doubt that the rhythm didn’t come
from spending days and nights
bumping to dancehall and soca.
Many people can agree that several
Black styles of music have infl uenced
most music (and currently,
most pop music). Dancehall and
reggae are no exceptions. So when
I can see that many of these artists
take time to use their reach to
spread knowledge and understanding
about specifi c topics, it gives me
hope. Jamaican artists especially
are always quick to release music
related to current politics and worldwide
events. For example, many
performers released songs outlining
the 2008 election for the fi rst black
president, and even now are creating
songs that spread the awareness
of COVID-19.”
Sundari, The Indian Goddess
(@zaman_aka_sundari)
Indo-Guyanese
Queens
“In 2012, Sundari was cast as a
female dancer in a non-LGBTQ cultural
dance drama titled ‘Kitcheri’ in
Queens. The birth of Sundari and
performing arts spaces helped me
to create opportunities for other drag
identities and LGBTQ+ visibility in
traditional heteronormative and
faith-based institutions. Indo-Caribbeans
have a long history of LGBTQ
narratives in our traditions, culture,
and religion, which been erased and
became unacceptable in society due
to homophobia and colonialism. I
fi nd liberation in pushing boundaries
in non-LGBTQ spaces with the
work I’m doing in and out of drag.”
Bijuriya (@bijuriya.drag)
Indo-Trinidadian/ Mixed-Race
Montreal
“I draw lots of inspiration from Desi
culture and seek to portray different
contrasting versions of brown
femininity, from Bollywood heroines
to M.I.A. I often feel suspended between
identities, so my drag tends
to hover between tribute and parody,
or appreciation and critique of
the culture(s) I engage with. I love
to engage with very specifi c, sometimes
relatively obscure cultural references
in my drag because I DON’T
think that art is universal. Thinking
of art as something that has the
potential to please everyone on the
planet is an insult to all the sub-
➤ CARIBBEAN DRAG, continued on p.16
GayCityNews.com | August 13 - August 26, 2020 15
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