Provisional title: Both of Me
Invitation to Take Part
A photographic and audio project about Brighton’s drag scene
Working title: Both of Me
I am working on a bid seeking Arts Council funding for a new photographic and audio project about Brighton’s drag scene and I would love to involve performers from the community. This note explains what I am trying to make, what taking part could involve, and how I hope the finished work will represent the people who make the scene what it is.
What is the project?
I want to create an intimate photographic portrait of Brighton’s drag scene – not simply photographs of queens performing, but a body of work about the people and identities that exist within and around drag.
I know and value many people in the scene as friends. The project comes from wanting to tell some of those stories with more depth: what motivates people to do drag, how a drag persona develops, what it allows someone to express, and how the performer and the person outside drag overlap.
I’m particularly interested in the idea that there may not be a simple ‘real person’ on one side and a ‘character’ on the other. Both can be real. Drag can exaggerate, release, invent or reveal parts of somebody, and that relationship will be different for every performer.
I also want the project to reflect the diversity of contemporary drag, including cis, trans and AFAB queens. I am interested in different experiences of femininity and gender, but I do not want to decide in advance what anybody’s identity means. I want the performers themselves to tell me.
What would taking part involve?
There is no fixed photographic formula. I don’t want to photograph everybody in exactly the same way. Depending on what feels right for you, we might make portraits, photograph you getting ready, spend time backstage, photograph a performance, work at home or visit a place in Brighton that is important to you.
Some people may be photographed both in and out of drag; others may not. We might make carefully constructed portraits, completely candid photographs, or both. The idea is for the photography to respond to you rather than force everybody into the same format.
Your voice is part of the project
Alongside the photographs, I’d like to record a relaxed conversation with you. I will guide the conversation with questions and prompts, but in the finished audio my questions will be edited out. The audience will hear you speaking in your own words.
We might talk about how you started drag, your persona, transformation, femininity, gender, Brighton, community, confidence, vulnerability, performing and whatever else you feel is important. It is not a questionnaire and there are no right answers. If our conversation goes somewhere more interesting, we’ll follow it.
I may ask everybody two simple questions: ‘Who are you when you’re in drag?’ and ‘Who are you when you’re not?’ I’m interested in whether those questions even have simple answers.
What I am hoping to achieve
I want the finished work to be both a portrait of Brighton’s drag community at this point in time and a wider exploration of identity and the ways we present ourselves to other people.
The aim is not to explain drag from the outside or to make anybody representative of an entire community. I want the differences, disagreements, humour and contradictions between people’s experiences to remain visible.
Arts Council funding to allow me to develop the work properly. My ambition is for the final project to become a public exhibition in Brighton combining photographs with edited first-person audio. There will also be a supporting website and a high quality photo-art book. All participants would receive an honorarium and a copy of the book.
How will I be represented?
I will talk with you about how the photographs and recordings may be used before we begin. You can tell me if there are subjects, situations or locations that are off limits.
Some conversations may become personal. If sensitive material is being considered for the public exhibition, I will agree an appropriate way of checking that material with you. I want people to feel able to speak openly without feeling that an unexpectedly vulnerable moment has automatically become public property.
The project will not label or categorise people unnecessarily. If your gender identity, sexuality or personal history is relevant to your story, I want that to come from how you choose to describe yourself, rather than from labels I impose.
What happens next?
At this stage I am developing the project and the Arts Council funding application. An expression of interest does not commit you to taking part. If you are interested, I would like to have an informal conversation about you, your drag, what you might want to contribute, and any ideas you have for how you would like to be photographed.
If the project goes ahead, we will agree practical arrangements and consent before photography or recording intended for public use. I will also explain the proposed exhibition and other uses as they become confirmed.
Most importantly
I don’t want to arrive with a conclusion about who you are and then make photographs that prove it. I want the project to develop through spending time with people, listening to them and allowing the photographs and voices to reveal something more complicated.
If you take part, I want you to feel that you have contributed to the work rather than simply appeared in it. Please get in touch if you have any questions.
Mike Coombes 07721-038010 m.coombes@gmail.com
It is important that I can substantiate my bid by showing that I already have queens interested in participating. If you’re willing to fill out an ‘expression of interest’ form (this does not commit you to anything and you can withdraw at any time) it will help tremendously.