Blanket La Goulue

"Political queen, notorious freak, non-binary artist, ACAB."

How would you describe your work/art?

"I'm a drag artist from Brussels who likes to dig into our musical memories to throw up the mistakes of the past. I started drag 3 years ago but it's when I created the collective Not Allowed that everything really took off, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Schaerbeek. I perform in several cabarets in the city, including the incredible Sassy Cabaret!"

"On stage I'm both a performer and an MC because yes I love the close contact with the people, err sorry: the audience." 

"Drag particularly fulfills me because it allows me to propose on stage a reality that is mine but also to spend time creating it. I love thinking and creating my looks, spending evenings listening to boring music to create new acts."

"But drag mostly gives me a sense of legitimacy to exist and that wouldn't be possible without my drag family. I'm so lucky to be surrounded by the most attentive and talented adelphs that allow Blanket to exist, big up King Baxter, ShlaggyDaddy, Drag Couenne and Lylybeth."

What are your main sources of inspiration as a drag artist?

"My drag was born from the observation that we don't politicize our daily lives enough, that we accept life and its problems like a baby accepts its soft and lukewarm bread. I am very much inspired by activist role models who dared to say "no" to what was imposed on them, such as La Goulue, Divine, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Paul B Preciado etc. But also by everyday models: the witches, cagoles, whores, sluts, pd, guines, trans who make up my life and make it come alive."

How would you describe your artistic process?

"My work consists of inserting, in my lipsyncs, the oppressions that I experience as a queer person on a daily basis. It's a mix between performance art and political activism. I make mashups of well-known music in which I modify one or more words to change or reveal their meaning. The themes are diverse (harassment, sexual violence, homophobia, etc) but always connected with what I live or have lived."

What advice would you give to those starting out as drag artists?

"I think in drag, any style, the important thing is to understand why we are doing it. Where is our intention coming from? When we can answer that question, things get easier."

As an active member of the queer community, what do you see as the most important challenges we face and what should be improved?

"I believe that we must first understand why we are "community", what unites us? How far are we responsible for each other? I think that in Brussels we are seeing the birth of not one but several radical queer communities that are coming together and creating out of necessity. Communities that authorize themselves, that politicize themselves and that have understood that they can only count on themselves to exist! This gives me a lot of strength and hope, it's magic! I don't think we have to improve anything, it's organic, we have to let it happen. On the other hand, we must remain vigilant to the political, media and cultural recuperation. Queer is not fun, Queer is not a party.

Future projects

"I'm working on the creation of Playback, a new drag cabaret to make Brussels parties safer and more inclusive, a show that will feature the best drag artists in the country but also the drag babies. So stay tuned, and follow me on insta bitch."