Transformation Tuesday just got a whole lot QTer…New queers featured every week! Tag us, take a pic of us and follow us on Instagram at QWERRRKOUT, and you too could be the next, featured QT! YOU BETTA QWERRRK! (Mx Qwerrrk vid by celebrity photog Santiago Felipe).

Ann Phibian

Age: 26

Location: Portland, Oregon

About:

“For me, drag has always been about expressing queerness and having fun. I started playing with makeup in 2015 when I was a Queer Studies student at a college in Northern California, mostly as a way to express the new sides of myself that were becoming uncovered as I dove deeper into queer theory. Being able to paint the queer and femme (and ugly and monstrous) parts of myself right onto my face became a source of liberation for me, as well as a way build community with other like-minded queer folks. The first people I looked to for makeup inspiration were the local kings and queens of Humboldt Co. (Charlie Darling, Fuscia Rae, Tucker Noir, Hugh Johnson), as well as the social media of Kim Chi, Lisa Limbaugh, and Lucy Garland.

After graduating college, I spent a year managing an organic farm in Hawaii, where I had to do my makeup in a dimly lit barn and drive to the opposite side of the island to get to the only drag bar- Scarlet Honolulu. It wasn’t until I got to Portland, in early 2017, that I felt like I could finally set roots somewhere and really become part of a drag community. I was excited to find a thriving drag scene here that centers around avant-garde fashion, gutter punk filth, ballroom culture, and queer glam that I felt instantly connected to and inspired by.”