C.R.I.T.: Dressing Up, Acting Out: By Kitty Ethridge

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Dressing Up, Acting Out: By Kitty Ethridge

In 2009, I was photographing performers at a local cabaret called Jacques, and around the same time, local events, funerals, celebrations, and protests. For some reason mostly men, gay and straight, became my subject matter. I didn’t notice the connection at the time, but I became struck by the similarities between the two groups. Almost every occasion involved costume or dress. Similar in a ritualized way, each actor had an acute sense of theater and purpose. Demeanor. Intensity. Courage. Face it. If you’re a man, whether you’re putting on a uniform with a badge and a gun, or a dress with full makeup and jewelry it takes courage.

These images of course are all of drag queens. Regardless, without the dress (or the uniform) the intensity, the effect of instilling or inspiring emotional reactions would not be as effective. Dressing up is transforming. Mild, meek mannered weaklings become super heroes, boys who identify as feminine become women. Escapism? No. I think it allows people to be who they really are, sometimes with abandonment.