In this monologue, the speaker—a queer artist—recounts severe bullying they endured as a teenager, including physical violence and misogynistic remarks, and describes a pivotal conversation with their MAGA-identifying brother who was unaware of the extent of the abuse. The artist explains their sculptural series, "Drag Everything Up," which transforms objects tied to those bullying experiences by incorporating drag materials, thereby reclaiming queer power. A central example is a "drag basketball," created after the artist forced themselves to learn basketball despite being harassed for being queer; the altered basketball symbolizes taking back agency over a space that once caused pain. The speaker invites viewers to see more of the series or commission a custom piece, and ends with holiday greetings.
Chapters
Hi! So as a follow-up to what happened between me and my MAGA brother, just to give him credit, he was actually very inquisitive about my work, about my art. I was telling him about this sculptural series that I have called Drag Everything Up, which is inspired by my experience as a bullied queer teenager. And in this series, I am applying drag materials into objects which represented bullying for me, or activities where I've experienced bullying. And one example of that is this drag basketball, and I'll explain to you why. When I was 14 years old, I had this life or death conversation with myself. I could remember distinctly, and I was telling myself that if I did not act like a man, that I will not survive, or I will be bloody again. Because that's how severely I was bullied. My brother did not know that I was bullied so much. It did not register to him. He didn't know that I came home bloody or bruised. I was kicked in the ass, I was punched on the face just for being queer, just for being who I am. And he wasn't aware of that. He didn't know that everyone around me conspired, and it seemed normal for them to make me feel that I was less than. And I don't know if my brother was listening or not, but it just did not register to him. And the only thing that occurred to him, that the moment he realized I gays that our neighbor said that if they had my looks, that they could have impregnated a lot of women. And I was— I called him out and told him that that's actually— that's a lot of layers in there. That's also very misogynistic, but also that they probably said that because I had a fairer or whiter skin. It's, it's about skin color. And that it even occurred to him, but he was so surprised. So yeah, I have a series called Drag Everything Up, and one of them is this basketball, because after that conversation I had with myself, the next day I literally asked our neighbor to teach me how to play basketball. And I did try, but even in the basketball court— and I know there's also queer folks who play basketball, but I was bullied for playing basketball. When I tried, they already knew I was queer, so whenever I played, they shoved that down my throat and made me feel that I cannot play basketball because I was queer. And hence, I wanted to take back the power, and I wanted to change the meaning of this object and apply drag materials into it so that I could reclaim my queer power into this object. And I have a series of these. I've dragged up a series of objects where I've experienced bullying. And so if you want to see more of it, let me know. Or if you want me to create a drag basketball for you, let me know and I'll do it. And happy holidays again, everybody. Bye!
