Duration of exhibition: 12th – 17th September 2022
Place of exhibition: KC Grad
“Although drag culture has existed in some form for hundreds of years, from ancient Greece to Shakespeare, to baroque operas, in the last fifty years it has experienced somewhat of a renaissance at a global level, and has to a great extent become part of popular culture. The situation in Serbia is somewhat different and it can be said that the local drag scene in our area only started to emerge at the beginning of the 21st century. Before that, there were only a few examples such as Agatha and her Viva la diva performances in the nineties. The concept of the drag community as a more serious movement in the form of Belgrade’s drag scene only began to form in the second decade of this century. These photos bear witness to that period.
My first contact with the local drag scene was in 2017 when I met the team of young people standing behind the KayGie parties. Soon afterwards I started to regularly attend these gatherings once a month in KC Grad taking photos of the participants. What fascinated me then as still now is the fact that these young people effectively managed to create the local drag scene in the capital of Serbia without any help or support. Their creativity, perseverance and courage are immortalized by this series of portraits that record if not the birth, then certainly the early development of the drag scene in Belgrade.”
This exhibition is supported by the Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade
