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DRAGGED UP SHOOTING THE DARKNESS With RuPaul’s Dr
ag Race making it over this side of the Atlantic this month and, closer to home, events such as Drag & Draw (see feature page 32) garnering an increasing fanbase, it’s high time we educated ourselves more about drag and its origins. Simon Doonan does it in Drag: The Complete Story. The writer and fashion commentator highlights the interest in gender fluidity that led to the rise of drag culture, defining its impact far beyond the reaches of its initial community. He also looks at Black icons like trans activist Marsha P. Johnson. Doonan divides the past and present landscape of drag into nine categories: glamour, art, butch, black, historical, comedy, poster, movie, and radical. “Whether finger popping, reading, mopping, ROADMAP Michael McDermott gagging, voguing, talking to the hand, werking, twerking, throwing shade, serving genius and overness, being legendary, or simply giving realness, the black drag queen is an enduring icon of fascination and inspiration. She generously and magnanimously enriches the culture, often receiving comparatively little in return, and we must all bow down before her. #gratitude. The Medusan ferocity that characterizes glamour drag queens is amplified in the black drag queen, and augmented with unique black irony and wit. The black drag queen is both comedic and glamorous. The black drag queen is fierce.” Drag: The Complete Story, Laurence King, £30 Based on Tom Burke’s critically acclaimed documentary, Shooting the Darkness (2019), comes the photo book which tells the story of the local press photographers in Northern Ireland who, when the Troubles broke out, were thrust on to the front line of daily shootings, bombings and murders, becoming war correspondents in their home towns. Seven renowned photographers – Stanley Matchett, Trevor Dickson, Alan Lewis, Hugh Russell, Martin Nangle, Crispin Rodwell and Paul Faith – reflect frankly on their experiences, from the trauma of covering hundreds of funerals and being first on the scene after an atrocity, to the ways the different paramilitary groups chose to work with the press, the dangerous situations in which the photographers found themselves, and why their work was so profoundly important. Included are the stories behind iconic images such as Father Edward Daly waving a blood-stained handkerchief on Bloody Sunday in 1972, Sean Downes being shot and killed by an RUC plastic bullet in 1984, and the brutal attack on Corporals Derek Wood and David Howes in March 1988. The result is a unique and landmark book, recognising at last the achievement and contribution of the photographers who were shooting the darkness for more than 30 years. Blackstaff Press, €22.99 Gong… another fantastic Fringe wraps up and, as always, we didn’t get to see as much as we’d hoped, but the crown for the best show we saw goes to Nate. Natalie Palamides’s creation was everything and then some - innovative, interactive, challenging, contemporary, incisive, hilarious. Perfection. @natdogkatdog 10 BE SEATED, PLEASE! Welcome news for the derrière of all cinephiles in the city, with the overhaul of the IFI’s cinema screens. Brand new seats, new acoustic panelling, more leg room, new drapes and new floors are all in situ after a ten-day job by Cinemascape from County Down. You can still support their fundraising efforts by having a seat named in your honour – €300 bags it for three years. ifi.ie/name-your-seat