For Tulle Queer Year 4, I created 12 new portraits across May and June of 2025, culminating in a one-night-only exhibition at West Art in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Returning to West Art for the second year, the show took place in the second-floor Sanctuary, which stayed full from 5 to 9 PM. The night brought together a queer art market, live music by GiGi Marrero, and drag performances by Nevaeha Le’Vixenn, Diane Decay, NES, and Charlize Angelz.

The queer art market featured work by MX Darling Creations, Clover Vasquez, Andrew Charney, Eddie Berkoski, Sweet and Sowers Shop, Wildflowers Glassworks, and Necla Kara.

Building on earlier chapters like Give Them Flowers and House of Tulle, this year’s theme, Paparazzi, continues the series’ focus on queer star power in rural Pennsylvania. It’s about visibility, but also about the quieter kind of fame that happens when people choose to live fully and publicly in places that don’t always expect it.

Portraits of Paparazzi

Paparazzi is the largest Tulle Queer collection so far: 12 new portraits, 17 featured local icons, and more tulle than any previous year. The idea of “artist lineage,” first introduced to me by Tifani TrueLove, shaped the way this body of work came together. That lineage shows up in everything I’ve learned, what I’ve been influenced by, and what I’ve lived through to become the artist I am now.

When I look at this series, it feels like a mix of music videos I grew up replaying, flipping through stacks of Vogue magazines, and the worlds I used to escape into as a kid. It also reflects something deeply familiar to a lot of small-town queer people: the ability to see everyday life as cinematic, even romantic. Paparazzi is built from those everyday miracles, made in places that are often overlooked, for people who are still creating something powerful anyway.

This year’s honorees included new photos of local icons Kat Griggers, George Lopez, Nina Padilla, Mary Fink, John Elliot, Mark Paterniti, Noni Sheila, Isaac Se Young Um, Fai Khalidah, Kayyora Morales, and Sible Sible Stackhouse, alongside returning portraits featuring Brian Graves, Reed Frye, Tragedy Stackhouse, Amethyst Diamond, Karma Sutra, Giavacious, and Alejandra Franqui.

The night also included the reveal of my own drag fantasy persona, Papparazzi, bringing the theme full circle.