Roxana Rios

Drawing from Drag looks, the collaboration ALIAS examines methods of self-presentation as fundamental techniques in the construction of gender roles.

Originating in queer subculture, Drag has a rich history stretching back to the 19th century. It plays with the interplay between self- and external perception, by staging and simultaneously questioning traditional gender roles and identities. Within this performative and at times activist framework, normative boundaries are challenged and redefined. Especially trans identities, who have always been part of drag history, profoundly rely on the analysis and mastering of these codes.

In ALIAS, the process of character-creation is deconstructed, revealing its components as fluid and interchangeable. Through the explicit de-/construction of gendered markers, fixed attributions are loosened and shifted, a physical surface is understood as a fluid potential.

“Personal identity is never identical to the external image and continually reinvents itself in the constant flow of redefinition.”