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‘My day in a Liverpool alley with 35 drag queens’

Magnus Hastings Five drag performers pose in an alley. The first, dressed as a man wears a white face and multi-coloured coat. The second has a grey dress with a large round hate. The third wears a blazer and wide trouers, the third stands on a chair in a t-shirt and red elbow-length gloves. The last rests with her back on the wall wearing red patterned tights and a corset.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 local drag queens.

It’s 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’s doing it in the name of his favourite art form.

Two months later and the photographs from his day in the alley - which he and several of the queens taking part jokingly call his “initiation into the Liverpool gay scene” - are now at the heart of a “one-of-a-kind” exhibition opening at the start of the city’s Pride celebrations.

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.

Magnus Hastings Five drag queens pose in an alley way. One in a red jumpsuit covered in handprints, one in a pink floral gown, another in a green sparkly jumpsuit, a fourth in a red dress decorated in fish scales and the fifth in a rainbow tasseled outfit with a white feathered afro wig.Magnus Hastings
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)
Magnus Hastings A drag queen with red shoulder-length hair drapes herself over a chaise lounge while wearing a gold headdress. She is surrounding by antique artefacts and is holding an old vintage cameraMagnus Hastings
The exhibition has images of world famous drag queens like Jinkx Monsoon, who recently won series 7 of Drag Race All Stars.

But during a private viewing, it’s the back-alley images of the locals rather than the stars of Ru Paul’s Drag Race who are drawing the crowds.

“I wanted this exhibition to be about the art of drag; not just about a TV show. I’ve never wanted to [photograph] people just because they’ve been on Drag Race, it’s about who inspires me and who I get inspiration from."

Mangus Hastings A drag queen with a white face and a sparkly black jump suit poses for the camera, wearing bright red lip stick and a black feathered wig.Mangus Hastings
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.
Magnus Hastings A drag queen with red lipstick and a blonde wig shaves their facial hair with lots of shaving foam and a vintage razorMagnus Hastings
Several images of Australian queen Courtney Act feature in the exhibit

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.

“The 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,” they told BBC News.

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

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.

For Danny Beard, though, the real magic of Hastings’ work is about championing the diversity of local drag queens who haven’t been given - or don’t want - a platform like Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

Magnus Hastings Four drag queens pose in an alley way, one wears a rainbow mini dress, another wears a red velvet floor-length gown, the third wears a sparkly gown while the fourth stands in a door way wearing a mini skirt, a leopard print blouse and white go go bootsMagnus Hastings
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)
Magnus Hastings A drag queen in a flowing tuille dress sits next to ruined antique furniture. She has a diamond and pearl encrusted mask around her mouth and draped over her headMagnus Hastings
Raja, who won series three of Drag Race, is well-known for high-fashion looks and dramatic outfits.

One of those local queens is Pretentious Dross, who describes herself as “Liverpool’s arthouse witch, masher of lips and prancer of stages”.

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’s idea of what drag is.

“There’s a misconception that drag is just people doing hyper-femme, gowns, wigs, make-up, that sort of thing.

“What these images show is that there are as many different ways to do drag as there are people in the world.”

Magnus Hastings A black and white image of a drag queen with blonde curly hair. Her arm is draped around a man in a black suitMagnus Hastings
Magnus Hastings rarely gets in front of the camera himself
Magnus Hastings A drag queen in a checkered green dress is attacked by super-imposed crowsMagnus Hastings
Magnus likes to showcase the individuality of each drag queen

Hastings himself appears in just one of the photographs, alongside Australian drag queen Courteny Act.

Despite his love for the art, he’s never stepped in front of the camera in drag.

“I just love drag - when I was younger I used to steal my sister’s clothes, and shoes and I’d run around naked with my mum’s feather boa lip-syncing to songs, but I was sort of ashamed of it and I locked it down,” he tells BBC News.

“But for me, my work is my way of doing drag. I’m not an observer, I’m a participant.

“It’s how I express my little drag child through the work I do.”

Queen by Magnus Hastings is at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 27 July – 25 August 2024