When I was approached to do this project, I was excited for the whole concept.
In my life, growing up, i never really had queer idols to look up too, let alone queer indegnous idols. From my late teens into my early 20.s, i ended up going onto the internet a lot and finding my own likes and insspirations for the gay/queer likestyle. Made a lot of friends that way and it felt great.
As I was growing older and finding myself, I always felt like there was still something missing. After awhile of searching, i ended up going to a lot of local drag shows, and seeing all these beautiful indgenous drag queens performing and i realized, i can be a queer person and be proud of my indegnous haritage.
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TROY WATT
PHOTOGRAPHER
Troy is a Cree, Queer Indigenous Native from God’s Lake Narrows First Nations in Northern Manitoba. Now living in Winnipeg, MB, They studied photography at PrairieView School of Photography and is a self-taught makeup artist and drag performer, they also go by their drag name of Buffy Lo who’s been in the Winnipeg drag scene for 3 years now officially, they are a part of a Indegnous drag collective known as the Bannock Babes (@thebannockbabes on IG) which has been around since 2019.
ABOUT THIS ARTIST
I looked into my feelings and saw what was around me, there wasn’t much indegnous identity in the scenes I was into. with that being said, I need to put myself out there. I thought to myself “Be the inspiration your younger self never had.” With the help of friends I now have today, I feel confident in what I provide to this world. At the end of it all, i just want someone to look up to me and say “wow. I’m not the only one.”
This is why I did self portraits. I felt like I didn't have idols to look up to. So I turned to myself and said I am my own idol.
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