Pocketbook of Drag Queens, 1996 - 2001

Pocketbook of Drag Queens

From 1995 through 2001, I worked as a Tarot-card Reader at Lucky Cheng’s, an East Village restaurant that employs transgender waitresses and drag performers. I was able to document some part of the lives of the people who surrounded me. The waitresses and performers became friends; they allowed me to photograph them both “on” and “off”. There was mutual trust.  As a woman photographing men dressed as women, I was doubly aware of the surrealism involved. It made me question what I used to take for granted, about appearances and what constitutes gender. 

From 1995 through 2001, I worked as a Tarot-card Reader at Lucky Cheng’s, an East Village restaurant that employs transgender waitresses and drag performers. I was able to document some part of the lives of the people who surrounded me. The waitresses and performers became friends; they allowed me to photograph them both “on” and “off”. There was mutual trust.  As a woman photographing men dressed as women, I was doubly aware of the surrealism involved. It made me question what I used to take for granted, about appearances and what constitutes gender.