We were immediately stopped in our tracks by Leland Bobbé’s ongoing project Half-Drag, which features a collection of drag artists midway through their transformation into larger-than-life female furies.
“My intention is to capture both the male and the alter-ego female side of these subjects in one image,” says Bobbé. “Through the power of hair and makeup these men are able to completely transform themselves and find their female side while simultaneously showing their male side.”
The performers are as you see them, says Bobbé—not two composite images joined together.
Fierce, mama!
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Click through for more images from Half-Drag
Images: Leland Bobbé
Triple S
Except for the last one, I think the collection is quite interesting! I’ve only recently gotten interested in drag, and I thought to myself exactly this!
MSquare
amazing idea and execution!
Triple S
In fact, this could be very useful as a guide for beginners, like me possibly soon. You see what it is ‘partially’ natural (there’s still a bit of makeup on the right side) and what it is in the final appearance.
How long does it take to do these? Cause these ones have some more complex ones, and some more simple ones. All of them would take for bloody ever, but does anyone have a rough estimate?
ron
I’ve just never understood drag. To me it’s bizarre. Clowns always scared me, but drag queens terrify me. Who wakes up one day and decides they want to dress like a woman? Stay away from me!
Triple S
@ron: Why do you want to dress as what is accepted as a man? Clothes are pieces of fabric and material draped on our bodies.
It’s not like surgery OK? It’s just clothes and makeup.
Clockwork
Uhg!
Looks like something from the 80’s
Do people’s minds actually react to these kind of pics anymore? Seems stale…
Ron
It should be “queens become girls”. Even the “boy” side looks like a woman.
Kayden
THIS IS GETTING OLD!!!
For the past 5 years, every drag queen has had a photo like this taken of them.. How is this NEWS WORTHY?!
kevin
does anyone say anything nice anymore ? just wondering … it gets better…
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@kevin:
Kevin the comment section of Queerty is the most hateful I’ve come across, and I’ve seen the comments on Redstate.
I just ignore them now.
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I only recognize Sherry. I wish their names were posted.
Number 3 is my fav – makes a cute boy too.
Kain
@ron: @MSquare: @ron: I want you to look at your family and see the differences between each and everyone of you. Then realize that you love them all no matter the differences. Drag is a performing art, and Divas in Los Vegas is the longest running show ever in Vegas. It’s easy to act as a male cast member when your male, but try to change everything you know and act as the opposite sex. Drag Queens are not to be scared of. Wake up, Realize that your in the 21st century, and except the differences of each and every human world wide. If we all the same life would be boring and unbearable. This web page obviously grasped your attention for you to click the page. So Enjoy life, Enjoy new experiences, and Enjoy the performing arts. Like your mother said, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.
lelandbobbe
i’m the photographer who shot these ,, ,
to kayden i shot about 45 queens and they all said the had never done anything like this before.
to comment #3 it took about 2 hours to do makeup and hair.
had queery asked me i would have provided the names to all the queens which would have been a good thing.
lelandbobbe
the names were all included in the italian vogue spread where they found this but this was posted without my knowledge . . .
AustinITE
These are beautiful. But you have to know, queerty more so than any site is polluted with self hating “STR8 ACTING” types (who are DESPIZED by the gay community) and the other half of the posters are homophobes pretending to be us. There are very few healthy minded posters left on this site. All the good ones left. I know dozens that don’t visit anymore.
There’s soooo many more engaging gay blogs on the net not polluted with the hyper macho types who introduce their boyfriends as their roomate.
Ken
This was quite beautiful. Loved many of these photos. They were striking.
I agree with afew other commentators. The comments section on this site are like a hip hop festival. Nothing but ignorant thugs, posturing their “masculinity” or trolling. There is very little inbetween. But as the poster above noted, there’s so many other gay sites these days that I’ve noticed the general foot traffic on here has been low.
Nick
omg. the last pic is Sherry Vine. aaaahhhhhh, i love herrr.
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@lelandbobbe:
It’s a wonderful series. I saw all of them on the Vogue site. What amazed me was that some of the transformations weren’t as dramatic as one might expect. Sure they became beautiful women, but they didn’t lose who they were under the paint.
Joanne
I’m sorry, but drag queens are a caricature of women; they are not women. As another respondent said, drag is “performance art”. It may be a way to express an inner feminity, and that’s okay, but to call a drag queen a “female” is to insult every woman and trans-person out there.
lol
@Joanne:
boo hoo
Stop playing the victim and grow up.
DETOXX BUSTI-AE
I am surprise at that comment lol but this was a great shot of me. yess i am the one in the pic. Here is a link to my facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DetoxxBusti.AE .. youtube:http://www.youtube.com/user/stevenlad21?feature=mhee and my website:detoxxbusti-ae.weebly.com check me out and support guys
Stakon1
@Joanne: Joanne, you’re not a female you’re a c-nt. stop acting like a sour p-ss c-unt.
Michael
I LOVE these pictures! I’ve been taking pics of gender benders, especially drag queens, for about 6 or 7 years now and this pics are absolutely the coolest thing ever. I can’t tell you how many times a guy has come up to me and he has to clue me in he’s a good friend of mine because it’s virtually impossible to recognize drag queens when they’re out and about as the boy.
ROCK ON!
Sansacro
Queerty has a bad habit of posting pics with no subject attribution: Names please. Who are these people??