Over in Yilan a group of elderly painters is a living embodiment of the Chinese adage “live until you’re old, study until you’re old.” And the muses of their most recent class were queens of drag. A four-member drag queen team entertained and interacted with the community, and the end result were dazzling paintings from senior citizen artists who felt just a bit more youthful by the event’s conclusion.
These drag queens are lip synching and dancing their hearts out, performing one song after another to an audience of senior citizens who have smiles on their faces as they groove and clap their hands to the beat. One golden ager was even cutting up the dance floor.
The elderly painters at Yilan’s Deyang Community invited four drag queens to their class, which featured more than just singing and dancing, as both the queens and senior citizens created forever memories by painting portraits of each other. Several of the older adults said seeing these beautiful drag queens made them feel like they’d gotten younger.
Hannah Monina
Drag queen
Nymphia Wind is my drag mother, because it was she who brought me into the drag queen world. This table of grandpas and grandmas may have been a bit quieter, a bit shier, but they were paying close attention the entire time. When you’d see them painting you could feel that today’s exchange was a real connection.
Along with Hannah Monina, today’s drag queen team also included Yolanda Mesula, who just a few weeks ago was crowned the 2024 Drag Arena Bangkok MVP. The queens expressed that this event got them out of their echo chambers, because they came to realize that art knows no boundaries when it comes to age and gender.
Yolanda Mesula
Drag queen
To me, this was a very special experience, because we always feel like drag is something that’s stuck in the world of younger generations. But, in reality, art, like the event that we came to today, where grandpas and grandmas were painting, it shows that art doesn’t differentiate between ages, and that goes for gender as well.
Lee Yung-chin
Director of Deyang Community
This event resonated with these older adults and it sparked something inside them. Because old people always feel like they’re getting up there in years, right? But when they encounter something like this, they can grow in new ways, think in new ways. Just take a look at their paintings: every single one is beautiful.
This drag event helped both the young and old better understand each other, proving that art can make our lives a bit warmer.
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