‘Adora Vanessa Athena Fantasia’ Marks Strong Presence of Drag Art in Miami
Despite ‘calculated’ efforts to cap the activities of drag queens and art, members and patrons of the drag community have broken out to display public art at Miami Beach in Florida. In a display of art that seeks to pay homage to the four pioneering drag queens, “Adora, Vanessa, Athena, and Fantasia”, a two-part installation was unveiled by city officials during Miami Art Week.
“Adora Vanessa Athena Fantasia” is suspended over a building in the busy Española Way shopping district. The four drag queens-inspired art features extremely dramatic manicures and pouty lips.
Von Lips, one of the eleven drag queens who motivated the installation explained that drag art to her was all about how confident she can be in her drag outfit.
To Persephone Von Lips, the drag art comes together as “a costume, a work outfit and a kind of armour in one… the hair, the makeup, the nails, the whole getup — when I put them on, I can walk down any street and feel the most beautiful and most confident I’ve ever been.”
A drag performer who spoke to Reuters during the Miami Art Week, London Ardour also explained that “The true definition of the art of drag is being beautiful not only on the outside but most importantly, on the inside.”
In April 2023, Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis, signed a law that aimed at limiting the activities of drag art in the state.
This move inspired Eli Sudbrack, a Brazilian artist who founded AVAF in New York some 20 years ago to create the “Adora Vanessa Athena Fantasia” installation.
