Fuelled by a fire to expand the representation of Australia’s diverse drag scene, Art Simone has spent the last 18 months working on her new book, Drag Queens Down Under. Available now, the book is an eclectic selection of 30 of Australia’s most fierce drag artists, highlighting the challenges and achievements of these bright, bold stars.
When RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under debuted in 2021, many saw it as a win for the drag communities across Australasia—and in some ways it was. But, as Art Simone tells Not Safe For Queers, “on a show like Drag Race, you can only show a certain sector of the community; it isn’t made for all the wonderful and diverse characters that make up our eclectic drag scene.”
After competing on the show’s inaugural season, this point became painfully clear to Art.
“I am the biggest lover of Aussie drag. It’s my favourite thing in the world,” she says. “And after being on Drag Race and seeing how the community and audiences reacted to Aussie drag (thinking that was the only way Aussie drag could be), I really got a bee in my bonnet to set the record straight once again and show people how fabulous and diverse and exciting our drag scene is.”
“We’re really cool, actually, thank you,” she laughs.
Taking things into her own hands, Art has curated a 320-page anthology—a visual feast for the eyes—featuring 30 of Australia’s most compelling performers. She explains, “I wanted to go around the country and interview all these different drag performers and use them as a window into the extended drag scene to paint a picture and celebrate the history of Aussie drag.”
“Through all these drag artists, I’m able to document and tell stories about the history of our drag scene, from, you know, Les Girls to Priscilla to Drag Race and beyond. So, I don’t want people to think of it as just a list of names. It’s not that at all. It’s a collection of stories and a celebration of the community.”
But curating a book of this size wasn’t without its trials and tribulations. First, Art was challenged with the task of choosing exactly which queens would feature in the book—and which queens wouldn’t.
“I started with a list of over 100 different drag queens,” she reveals. “And then, as you go through the process, I had to pitch them all to my publishers and explain why I thought they were interesting and cool. And then, of course, it’s a visual book. So, there’s lots of images, because drag is such a visual artform. So, from that list, I then had to find out who had images that we could use to pair with all the words.”
Once this list of names had been whittled down, then came the real challenge.
“Have you ever tried to wrangle 30 drag artists before in your life?” Art laughs. “It was the most challenging thing. I felt like an annoying teenager being like, ‘can please I interview you for my project, please?’ So, trying to sit these drag queens down for just one hour—one hour—that was probably the most challenging thing. But it was so important to get a really broad collection of artists, so I put in all the work to get all the interviews that I could.”
“But, yeah, wrangling these bloody drag queens, oh my goodness.”
What results is a very unique piece of history, featuring the likes of Courtney Act, Ginava, Etcetera Etcetera, Aysha Buffet, Amyl, Vanity, Jojo Zaho, and many others.
More than that, however, it’s the first cohesive piece of work written not only about drag artists, but by one. “Something like this has never been done before. By being a fellow drag artist and knowing all of these people, I was able to bypass all that superficial stuff immediately and get to all the interesting stuff,” she says.
“It just adds a whole human element to all these bright, bold characters. Everyone just sees the glitz and glamour and sparkles and laughs on stage, but behind all of these people are real human problems, challenges, achievements.”
“So, I’m hoping that this book helps people to relate to all these artists and inspire them and motivate them to be as fabulous as a drag queen.”
Art Simone’s ‘Drag Queens Down Under’ is available now.