Scream for the Camera

Have I ever mentioned that I kind of quite like drag queens? Oh, OK. Well, this Sunday I assembled a group of tranny-stalkers-in-training (Toblarina, Tall Paul, Stephen ArtEast and SockMonkey) and marched them to a small (very small!) exhibition of drag queen photography at Frontispiece in Canary Wharf.

The pictures are all black and white masterpieces by Jeanette Jones. A few of them were very familiar - these two, for example, can be bought on greetings cards in places like Scribbler, but there was also a lot of stuff I have never seen before.



A few of them featured Miss Kimberley, a beautiful queen that pops up in my world from time to time. Most notably was at the Pride march last year when Toby ran to proudly tell me that a drag queen has just complimented his hair. "That’s not just a drag queen," I exclaimed in mock indignation, "that’s MISS KIMBERLEY!" I was also thrilled that she introduced me on stage at the Vauxhall is Gurning Ball last year.

We had a nice little chat with the man in the shop who seemed camp as tits but was keen to reassure us of his heterosexuality. Lots of references to his wife and daughter and "ooh, it’s hard to believe these are all MEN, imagine if you made a mistake when you were a bit drunk on a Saturday night!" Yes, *imagine* we all agreed, as we struggled to pull Stephen’s slavering form away from the pictures of naked muscle boys.

I would have loved to buy a few of the full size prints, but at £195 - £295 a go they were out of my price range. Luckily, the nice straight man was happy to show me the under-the-counter selection of mini prints that retail at a mere tenner.

Our joint favourite was a variation on the laundrette pic above, with all the queens in a row stripping off their pants to put into the machine while a stunned looking attendent watched speechlessly on. In the end I came away with this pic of "Ruby" and one of some adorable, pretty boys in a taxi who may or may not be the couple from the top right pic without the wigs and costumes. I think I’ll have to email Jeanette and find out.

UPDATE: I emailed Jeanette and apparently she's now into photographing Ballroom Dancers, so I guess the above are a limited edition. Shame.