This drag king is breaking gender stereotypes with their David Bowie impersonations.
“I sort of just fell into it,” Nikki tells i-D. “I met a group of local drag queens in Stockton and decided to dress up as Ziggy Stardust for their Halloween show. A few months later, David Bowie died and a friend suggested I do a tribute performance at her drag show, as I already had the outfit. Before that, it had never occurred to me that I could do drag or even wanted to.”
Before drag, life was a little less extraordinary for Nikki. Growing up in the East Bay area of San Francisco, Nikki had a regular childhood. She went to a local school where she studied art. Though she loved her subject, she always felt like there was something missing. “I wasn't doing anything performance related, I was just doing painting and printmaking and drawing. I ended up getting really frustrated with the programme I was in.
Things got a little more interesting at college, when she did a minors in gender studies, which in turn led her onto an internship with. While her gender studies opened the door for rigorous contemplation of her own gender, it was meeting LGBTQ patients and volunteers through Planned Parenthood that got her thinking about her sexuality. “They were both very different ways of interacting with ideas of gender and sexuality,” she says.
Being a woman in a man’s world can be hard enough. Being a woman performing as a man can be even harder. Indeed, all too often female drag performers are dismissed in favour of their male counterparts. Luckily, Nikki’s is a different narrative. “I've been really fortunate that I've never encountered anyone who’s told me what I can or can’t do or made me feel unwelcome,” says Nikki. “Anyone can do drag in San Francisco.
Beyond challenging gender stereotypes, Nikki’s drag also questions the line between drag and celebrity impersonation. “When you're impersonating someone else, rather than doing your own character there’s a lot more scrutiny,” she says. Case in point: the stigma aimed at top Britney impersonator,
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