We open the exhibition Drag Yourself Here on 25 August at 18.00 at Kogo Gallery. The opening will be during Gallery Night and Aparaaditehas Festival 2023. Come to meet and greet Baltic drag kings, quings and queens and stay for the drag show in the courtyard!
As participants in the Kogo Gallery programme Queer It Up, the Baltic Drag King Collective invites you to drag yourself and your friends and neighbours to the gallery space to experience, via drag, a glimpse into queer nightlife, gender empowerment and politics. The Baltic Drag King Collective will proudly take up space in order to celebrate the extended queer community, who have made the collective decision to work together for a more joyous and inclusive society, both on and off the stage.
The exhibition, curated by Latvian artist Mētra Saberova, who is also the Collective’s co-founder and manager, consists of photographic material from the ongoing activities of the Baltic Drag King Collective, with individual contributions from its members. The display showcases the scope of their performances and their varied and distinct approaches to, and motivations for, dwelling in the world of drag, and examines the contested world of gender roles and their disruption.
The Baltic Drag King Collective is a fluid community of drag performance artists from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania that uses drag as a platform for deconstructing and reinventing gender, educating society, and bringing visibility to the LGBTQ+ community. They focus on the performance of masculinity and the representation of female, trans and non-binary identities.
Curator: Mētra Saberova
Artists and contributors:
Latvia: Mētra Saberova (Timmy), Krista Saberova, Edgars Tabaks, Ilze Vēze-Balode (Henry Oak), Mailo Štern, DJ Lévi, Marss The Person, Vincent Hemingay, Dawn (K!NK), Niko Rain (Bazilix), Vencheska Baltique, Vivianna Maria Stanislavska
Estonia: Hanna Kannelmäe (Eeben Früülep), Maxx Toxic, MajorDanger, Ms Elsa, Helgi Saldo, Wickler Wilde
Lithuania: King A, Querelle
Read more about the exhibition: https://www.kogogallery.ee/en/exhibitions/drag-yourself-here/
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the City of Tartu, the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Nordic Culture Point Mobility Funding Program and VV Foundation.
