Days And Nights Of A Hurricane: Portraits Of A Drag Queen’s Seoul
Words and Pictures by Argus Paul
Between March 29 and April 4, activist and artist Heezy Yang transformed into his alter ego, the drag queen Hurricane Kimchi, and embarked on a performance art tour in Seoul to raise awareness for LGBT rights.
Drag queens are still relatively new to the conservative country, so the idea for the performance art tour was born out of a need to not only publicly show that sexual minorities exist in Korea, but also to bring encouragement to its gay community.
Of his mission to foster equality during this time of Korea’s expanding modernization, Yang says, “I wanted to let other sexual minorities know — the frustrated and lonely people who are hiding their sexual orientation — that they are not alone; that there are others fighting for the advancement of rights for sexual minorities.”
Always the activist, Yang will next be performing and contributing his efforts to this year’s Korea Queer Culture Festival, which is set to take place on June 11 at Seoul Plaza.
He will also be hosting a concert event, Rainbow Gathering: Loud & Proud, at DGBD this weekend on May 7 in Hongdae, where the organizers of the Korea Queer Culture Festival will be on hand to raise funds by selling official merchandise.
With Pride Month and the winds of change quickly approaching, these are the days and nights of a hurricane: Portraits of a drag queen’s Seoul.
