From 2015-2019 I worked as a drag performer under the name johnsmith, making performances and video installations for bars, clubs, galleries and theatre contexts.

I loved the 5 minute cabaret format and always had a reveal. As time went on I started using sound tech in my performances, to create a sonic reveal by live-sampling body sounds, or allowing the audience to control the speed of my lipsync. I was experimenting with how to integrate tech in a low fi way, so it was really part of the act.

The video above is a performance I did hundreds of times in so many different settings. I won the Glory’s first MAN UP! Drag King Contest with that act in London in 2015. The communities of queer nightlife and artists I was a part of there, changed my life and shifted my outlook on the world over and over. <3