THE FUTURE OF DRAG

Imp Queen is an entertainer out of Chicago, Illinois where she has been featured at places like Berlin and is a trans fashion figure, a rising drag pop star and a queer community leader.

  "There isn't really a 'character,' just my own mannerisms amplified by a spotlight, a microphone and an audience. I consider the work I'm doing now as Imp Queen part of my ongoing art and life practice," she said.  Imp Queen said she looks like a "classy bitch, but acts like a trashy girl. She's a total sweetheart, too.Imp Queen likely won't remember your name until you've met in the club at least a few times,  and then she'll likely just refer to you as "Daddy," as she does with everyone.She's a 1960s fashion illustration, seen through the lens of a 1990s club kid, then reinterpreted by a contemporary non-binary artist. The look is very over the top, very surreal, very graphic. Imp Queen collaborates with many other local queer fashion designers to create her looks. In folklore, an imp is a cute, little, devious magical creature—not evil, but definitely chaotic, and it's a name her friends started calling her in sophomore year of college whenever she was particularly turnt. After college, she was billing herself as Imp Kid, doing performance art with  two best friends as the group WITCH HAZEL. When she started to do proper drag, Imp Queen seemed like the obvious next version of the name.

Just a few months ago RuPaul, one of the preeminent drag queens in the world, expressed his resistance to trans women participating in Drag Race because when it’s not cis men doing it, “drag loses its sense of danger.” And here we have Imp Queen: a trans woman drag performance artist taking the very hormones that RuPaul dismissed as “performance-enhancing drugs.” Imp is an iconoclast — one of the most visible drag queens on social media who has not been a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race. And if she ever does...watch out!  She uses her Instagram to document the looks she wears out for nightlife gigs in Chicago: dazzling the masses with her iconic pink countenance, regal balloon crowns, and unyielding reservoir of creativity. In Imp’s world looks are a postgender bliss…to be found on aisle five in heaven next to the neon lip liner...What is striking about Imp’s online presence is she doesn’t only turn looks, she also talks shop. She goes live speaking candidly about her transition, her struggles with mental health and harassment, and her own frustrations with the drag scene. In this way she poses a double whammy: She can paint your face to the gods and lecture you on queer history and performance theory along the ride. And I firmly believe it's queens like her that will pave and keep drag relevant all the while fighting to ensue rights for the trans community.

All the more reason to adore her...I think she would make Leigh Bowery proud.