I have always been interested in gender and identity stories. In South Africa, we have a strong liberal constitution on paper for queer rights, but the reality on the streets – the hate crimes, the animosity in the workplace and in social settings – is very different. I was curious about where people could go not only to feel safe but to feel celebrated for who they are, and feel truly embraced. That led me to the drag pageant scene.
I would go to photograph pageants every weekend, and every Monday I would get messages from the people I’d photographed asking me to send the pictures – so I had a lot of instant feedback on the work I was making. I was using harsh lighting to play with the idea of masculine and feminine, to emphasise the contrast between the strong jawlines and the feminine personae. But there’s no one more honest than a drag queen, and very early on, someone told me they really didn’t like the picture I’d taken of them.
It was hard to hear, but letting go of my ego I asked this person why. They said it was because they didn’t look beautiful. I realised it was the harsh lighting – how a photographer sees and thinks a story should be told is often not the way people see themselves, or how they want to be shown. I changed my approach. And if I hadn’t had that knock to my ego, the work wouldn’t have become what it needed to be.
Over the next year and a half, making the work became a conversation with the drag queens. I put it out there that I wanted to do a collaborative project. Belinda, who is in this image, came to me and told me she was applying for the Miss Drag South Africa pageant; part of the competition involves doing a project. The idea was to work with other drag artists and visit places where acts of violence had happened, and to reclaim these places. I told Belinda to think about who should tell this story – I wanted her to consider carefully if I was the right person. Two weeks later, she came back and said she wanted to work with me.
I was concerned for the drag queens’ safety, not only while going to these sites of violence and making the images but also after, as some of them lived in the townships where the portraits would be made. I sat with it for a while. But one thing Belinda said stuck with me. She said: “If we don’t go, if we don’t reclaim these spaces and make these pictures, then it’s like we don’t exist.”
The entire series was shot in four hours. We met at a petrol station on the day, so the drag queens could get ready – everyone had specific ideas about what they wanted to wear. We moved quickly and didn’t linger. I was definitely nervous – it made me realise how these people feel every day, you can never fully relax.
I photographed Belinda at the shisanyama – a community space where women cook and sell meat – in Khayelitsha, a township located on the Cape Flats, near Cape Town. It’s the heart of the township, a gathering point with people cooking meat on open fires. It was the end of the day and the light was really good – everything came together, with the lady in the background staring. If you look carefully, you can see my shadow – I love that I’m a part of it, that always makes me smile. Belinda has such a regal, enigmatic presence. There’s something about her – I hope it comes across in the image.
Afterwards we organised a show at a community hall in Khayelitsha. It was a small gathering but people were really engaged, and came to ask questions, and the artists shared about themselves. It’s amazing to have global exposure for the issues we care about, but none of that is as valuable as showing the work in the space it was created.
Lee-Ann Olwage’s CV
Born: Durban, 1986
Trained: “I’m a self-trained photographer but studied film directing at AFDA film school in Cape Town.”
Influences: “My peers, life, the stories I work on, and other forms of storytelling: painting, music, weaving, textile art.”
High point: “Winning the World Press Photo award in 2020. It wasn’t so much the award but the fact that people celebrated a story I loved and my way of seeing the world. It gave me a new confidence that helped me take the next steps in my career.”
Low point: “Working with a journalist who was not respectful of the community we were in. I still resent myself for not speaking up about the situation sooner.”
Top tip: “Surround yourself with people doing what they love.”
