#QWERRRKOUT Tuesday: “Growing Up in a Refugee Camp, There Wasn’t Anyone Who Looked Like Me”- Diora
QWERRRKOUT TUESDAY just got a whole lot QTer… New queers featured every week!
Tag us, take a pic of us and follow us on Instagram at QWERRRKOUT, and you too could be the next, featured QT! YOU BETTA QWERRRK! Oh…and don’t forget to check out Mx Qwerrrk’s super snout chasin’, Spotify Playlist “VOGUING MAX” below, and get the BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW “Notorious P.I.G.” merch HERE!!! (Diora’s pics via Instagram, Mx Qwerrrk pic by celeb photog Santiago Felipe)
Diora
Age: 19
Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota
About:
“This is me expressing my perspective of the art of drag and queerness, coming up as a queer Southeast Asian immigrant.
I never know how to describe my drag because sometimes I wanna be a pretty girl but sometimes I maybe want to turn into that person’s dog
…but I like to think of my drag as ever-changing, depending on my era and phases, so I don’t feel like I’m all over the place.
Currently, I would say my drag is very referential, fashion-forward, simplistic yet intriguingly satisfying…campy, but like not camping camp, but like camping with a high-tech trailer park with wifi.
Growing up in a refugee camp and moving across the ocean at a young age, there wasn’t anyone in the media who looked like me.
So, to be a possible positive reference or to be an example of people who are like me, breaking these molds and stereotypes keeps me driven as an artist and that satisfying feeling of rebellion against the norm…a middle finger to the past. Without any exposure to the media displaying positive queer expression, it took me a while to be okay with who I was and to be able to fully express it because trust me, I knew who I was once I wrapped a towel around my waist, pretending its a dress. Which is why representation is so important and needed. I still can truthfully say I’m not at my 100% of my queerness and fully of who I am. It is still a journey, my journey to learn and expand my creativity through the lens of a very underrepresented group of people and maybe be a beacon for those people one day.”
Instagram: dioradawl