Mothers and daughters
2019
In New York at the end of the 80s, the film "Paris is burning" documents the queer culture of ballrooms where competing Drags houses, mainly from disadvantaged African-American and Latino backgrounds, compete against dancefloors
At the head of each of these "families" is a mother (a man) who acts as pygmalion. This golden age of voguing marks the beginning of the drag queen culture
This tradition of mothers will then develop and spread in many other cities where drag queen scenes will become important: San Francisco, London, Dallas, etc ...
Today in Paris, the new Drag Queen scene reactivates this tradition with the emergence of a diversity of mother mothers flanked by their daughters
Isabelle Gross-Mileo invited duets mother-daughter in her studio: they pose together and evoke in their common gesture the link that connects them
This formal approach of the studio is lined with a collection of interviews where the drag queens are told
Beyond these mother-daughter duets, some drags have also declared sisters even though they have no mother drag
This semantics of the family reflects the need to find each other, to support each other in a Parisian scene that takes on an astonishing scale and which has also become very competitive
It reflects the great vivacity of the current Parisian scene Drag Queen. All interviews and photographs form the project
« I didn't have the idea of having a daughter but she found Cookie cute and loved her cheekbones.
I have chosen Cherry as daughter. Now, we sometimes perform as a duo. »
"I’ve revisited Manly’s look. I start from his ideas, I keep the same bases and I make them evolve. I want it to be seen that he is my mom. " Lady B
"The fact that it is inspired by my make up also changes mine." Miss Manly
"At first I was not Vicky's daughter.
Vicky started by introducing me to the right people. One day, at the checkout of a supermarket, Vicky offers me a lipstick and says : thank's to whom ?
I spontaneously answer : thank you mom.
That's how I became Vicky's daughter " Hippolyte Vendôme
"I already wanted to do drag before meeting Calypso but it was Calypso who was the catalyst. We got to know each other and one day Calypso asked me if I wanted to be his daughter. I immediately accepted because she is a super performer. Then as a mother she let me live my life."
Sativa Blaze
"It's hard to put everything into words. All the gratitude received by all, your love and support gives me courage. @veronika_von_lear my mother, the one who brought me on this path.
The one who yells at me so that I stop panicking for nothing and that I work more! Thanks to her and everyone, I am proud to bear the name 👑 Von Lear 👑"
Gazelle Von Lear
At the time, I didn't feel legitimate enough to be a mother. So I chose a soft toy- Kiki - that I presented as my daughter. She almost always had a role in my performances and became my symbol.