Digital Transgender Archive

Eccentricities in Drag

A new batch of photos has just been uploaded to the ONE Archives Online Materials Collection. These new additions include images of gay activists in drag, photographs of drag balls, and even a personal photo album of Reed Erickson’s. These artifacts are primarily from the 1960s and 1970s.

The DTA team found this photo of artist Jerome Caja, taken in 1991, particularly striking. Jerome Caja was best known for creating miniature portraits using mixed media, such as glitter and lipstick. Caja also had an interest in drag performance. Discussing this interest, Caja once said in an oral history interview that he was always “fascinated with sex changers, both men that become women and women that become men.” Caja developed a unique and eccentric drag style that featured tattered lingerie in most of his performances. He was once rejected from competing in a drag ball because his drag style strayed from the status quo. This photo displays variation among drag performers and helps complicate drag style.