Tag Archives: documentary drawing

The last, for now, House of Presents show at Monster Ronsons.

Leave a reply

Pansy at Halloween House of Presents show at Monster Ronsons by Suzanne Forbes Feb 25 2021Halloween 2020 seems like seconds ago, or years.

It seems impossible that Berlin nightclubs were ever open again. But for a short time last Fall, clubs were open, observing careful Covid protocols.

Beloved queer clubhouse Monster Ronsons changed its entire setup, creating a cabaret dinner theater with table service from the bar.

Pansy of Pansy’s House of Presents (in full Jessica Rabbit style at top) and Gieza of Gieza’s Poke House redesigned their stage shows, instructing the audience to clap instead of scream and politely nod to strangers instead of fingering them.

I feel like these drawings were some of the best I did from a livestream last year, because I was drawing performers I’d seen and drawn in real life, and they were performing in a space I know well, to a real audience.

I so much appreciate Pansy, Gieza and Nana making these shows accessible to folx at home by streaming them!

Lola Rose at Halloween House of Presents show at Monster Ronsons by Suzanne Forbes March 6 2021For the two nights of double-header Halloween shows, the family of House of Presents created spectacular acts.

Lola Rose hit the stage to deconstruct a racist American caricature, Aunt Jemima- with a knife!

Naya at Halloween House of Presents show at Monster Ronsons by Suzanne Forbes Feb 25 2021Naya The Cisgenera had a powerful reading and a very sexy look.

Follow Naya on Instagram for humor, decolonization teaching and trans awareness.

Lolita Va Voom at Halloween House of Presents show at Monster Ronsons by Suzanne Forbes Feb 25 2021

Gieza decorated the stage with a monster theme, using old wigs!

Lolita Va Voom, above, shook it gorgeously. Always a joy to draw Lolita.

Lolita’s ongoing show with Nana Schewitz called Jews! Jews! Jews! is a treasure of Berlin.

Nana Schewitz is seen below, performing an interactive and hilarious act.

Nana Schewitz at Halloween House of Presents show at Monster Ronsons by Suzanne Forbes Feb 26 2021

Jews! Jews! Jews! has an online Virtual Queer Seder on March 28.

I am incredibly grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support lets me keep documenting Berlin’s drag and burlesque performers while I work safely at home.

Sacred Wounds’ “Future Conjure” theme is a beautiful celebration of the Asian diaspora, with Midori and more!

1 Reply

Wang Newton for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure by Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021

I had to take a disco nap and screw up my sleep schedule to catch this show, and it was worth it.

Drag King Dr. Wang Newton, the host, is the warmest, funniest and sweetest! He called us all babies, which I love. I felt very welcomed by the Sacred Wounds family! The show is co-produced by Coco Ono, aka performance artist Kayla Tange, who also does Cyber Clown Girls Show and who I drew last year.

California live-streams are the very hardest, since 4am, when most of them start, is my natural bedtime and starting work then messes me ALL up, but –

I had to stay up to draw longtime friend and muse Midori!

Midori interactive performance for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure screenshot Feb 13 2021Midori had an ingenious and wonderful interactive piece designed for this show.

She placed her gold-painted face on screen, then invited the audience to draw on her, using the annotation function of Zoom! I think absolutely no-one in the audience knew this function existed, but it was easy to use and everyone was almost instantly engaging with Midori’s face, drawing and stamping and writing.

I was absolutely thrilled by the way the lines criss-crossing the screen created a virtual through-line to so many of Midori’s works involving webs of rope.

Midori for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure by Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021I drew Midori as I saw her in the Zoom audience, her beautiful face one I know so well.

Then once I scanned the drawing (original below), I used my very limited and crude digital art skills to replicate some of the words and motifs from the performance. It was so fun to engage with one of my own drawings, such a serious matter always for me, in a spirit of play.

Midori original drawing for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure by Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021

This to me is the essence of Midori as a sexuality educator: her ability to create a space for play.

You can see Midori’s educational work, art and writing on her Patreon (I was one of the first to join!), and enjoy her youtube here and insta here.

Jas Lin for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021Drawing Butoh performers is always exciting.

I try to go loose and weird, looking for the feel of the performance more than the specific movements. Jas Lin made marvelous use of words, movement, a circular mirror, a croptop red kimono and tube socks. You can see more of their performances here on Youtube!

Ibuki Kuramochi Blood Bowl Sutra for Sacred Wounds Future Conjure by Suzanne Forbes Feb 13 2021Ibuki Kuramochi created a new piece called Blood Bowl Sutra.

it was powerful and hypnotic. Ibuki Kuramochi is here on Insta and website here. I was astonished, when I went to Ibuki’s website, to see the cover image was very much like my drawing! I like it best when I see the performer as they want me to see them.

I am incredibly grateful to my Patreon Patrons, whose monthly financial support makes it possible for me to continue to work safely at home, documenting Queer Culture.

As usual these drawings are licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) for all to share and enjoy!

In addition, I release the copyright on each drawing to the performer shown and they may use the drawings for their own profit and pleeeasssure in any way they choose.