Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Grafia Drag. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Grafia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The Grafia Drag project came up as an extension activity at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). We began writing texts about our experiences as drag artists, in October 2023 we are going to complete 2 years with almost 50 texts published. Nowadays, this extension activity has become a collective of Brazilian drag artists, we started a podcast and some public conversation circles about drag art. This project is meaningful because it allows us to produce knowledge from our own experiences. This way we are not objects of study anymore, we became agents producing and sharing wisdom about the drag art scene that we are constructing. Moreover, this collective project helps the artists to create relations generating a network that makes us stronger since we are supporting each other. Finally, Grafia Drag shows how drag art is multiple and has different expressions which is a way to decentralize the references about drag art.

The people that integrate the Grafia Drag Collective, they are: Anubis Blackwood; Gilmar Montargil; Jandiro Koch; Juana Profunda; Lady Lazzarus; Mia The Witch; Pietro Lamarca; Teacher Luná Maldita; Tiffany Plazza.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We are a collective of brazilian drag artists interested in sharing our experiences and produce critic knowledge about It. Nowadays this collective is integrated by Anubis Blackwood, Gilmar Montargil, Jandiro Koch, Juana Profunda, Kam Middle Space, Lorde Lazzarus, Luná Maldita, Mia The Witch, Pietro Lamarca, Tiffany Plazza. Besides the texts about the drag art scene published in the site Grafia Drag, the collective also has an Instagram profile where we post fragments of the texts. Recently, we launched a podcast seeking to reach a wider audience and to spread our ideias in other media. Furthermore, we made two public conversation circles about the most experience artists in Porto Alegre, a group with around 40 years of career (Gloria Crystal, Lady Cibele, Laurita Leão e Maria Helena Castanha). We are very proud about this activities because we can show that drag art is complex and it has been done for a long time in many styles. The participants of the collective are from all over the country, so we also bring visibility to different aspects of the brazillian drag art scene. We describe Grafia Drag as an open territory, since any artist can publish their texts with us and even to be part of the group.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Yes, the Grafia Drag was born in the academic context, so we are influenced by scholars such as Letícia Nascimento, Dodi Leal, João Silvério Trevisan, Judith Butler,  Paul Beatriz Preciado, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, and Diana Taylor. These scholars help us to show that drag art is complex and has its logic and strategies of communication. Drag art is not only entertainment, but also a way of life. Through this way we learn how to displace our insecurities and how to go beyond our fears. We believe that drag art might be a way to produce another world of possibilities, stating the fantasy potential to reenchanting reality against conservative political movements.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

We understand that creativity is the capacity to express our desires and dreams, which kids know well how to do. However, during our growing-up journey, we are normalized and encouraged to invest in some career plan, this way creativity is only welcome if it is oriented to the market. Therefore, we believe that supporting a creative ecosystem involves creating educational systems where children’s creative abilities can be developed. Among drag artists, it is usual to hear that when they were a child they played singing, acting, and wearing their parents’ clothes to express their creativity, this shows that these people learned how to be in touch with their interior children which is involved in creative expression.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ufrgs.br/grafiadrag/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grafiadrag/

Image Credits
In the photographs are: Luná Maldita; Tiffany Plazza; Mia The Witch; Lorde Lazzarus; Pietro Lamarca; Juana Profunda; Anubis Blackwood and Kam Middle Space.