JUNE 15, 2007
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This photo would not have been possible without a mixture
of serendipitous circumstances. •
The queerest of images submitted by contest participants, this
photo was actually shot hundreds of miles from gay-friendly
Portland.
In a small desert town bordering Splendora, Texas, Lee Kyle
and Kajanre Pepper, of the infamous radical drag troupe Sissyboy,
had an urgent need to shop. Headed to the International Drag
King Community Extravaganza’s eighth conference, the perform
ers accidentally left their drag accouterments in Austin.
“My mother wanted to take us thrifting, and Kajanne found
that dress,” said Kyle, whose stage name is Splendora. “We all
found crazy clothes, and the women in the thrift store loved it.”
Next came the wig shop and makeup counter.
This led to an impromptu photo shoot by an abandoned
bam next door to Kyle’s mother’s home.
“We definitely enjoyed ourselves, just being radical with
queemess,” he said.
•
There was more behind Kyle’s photo shoot and shopping trip
than stocking up on country threads. The performer, who has
created a hand called Splendora and the Gender Fluids with
Kajanne, uses art to advance the movement.
“As queer people, it’s about opening people’s minds through
images and art and dialogue,” he said.
The Fluids are performing 3:30 p.m. June 16 at Portland
Pride’s Coffee House Lounge, and Kyle is working on a one-man
show about the recent suicide of his brother. He is also working
on film projects and music videos for his band and writing
a musical.
Kyle obtained a degree in painting and drawing at Sul Ross
State University in Alpine, Texas. He began shooting photos in
junior high schixil and was a photographer for his college
newspaper.
This photo was shot using the hue feature on his digital
camera. Kyle finds the digital darkroom, to be fascinating.
For more information visit www.myspace.com/genderfluids.
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Most people wouldn’t expect to find a ’49 Chrysler Traveler in the winning photograph of
the environment category. But the scene of the rusted old car beside a dilapidated tin shack is
. made beautiful by the surrounding blue desert sky and brown, jagged foothills.
Joe Rowe is a single gay man who moved to Portland in early April. “Out of all the places
I’ve lived, and there’s been plenty, this is already my favorite city," said tht*44-year-old, who
works as a radiology technologist at Kaiser Permanente.
Rowe has been an on-again, off-again photographer since the eighth grade when he lived in
Omaha, Neb. “1 bought my first enlarger when I was 15 with money earned from a week of
detasseling corn,” he said. “If you don’t know what that is, ask Cindy Crawford; she did it for
several years in Illinois while attending high school.”
Rowe was living in Nelson, Nev., which is 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas when he shot this
photo two years ago. “It was one of those bored afternoons out driving in the desert thinking,
‘1 wonder where that road leads to?’ It was a jackpot of photo ops,” he said. Rowe later discov
ered that some scenes from the 2001 film 3000 Miles to Graceland were also shot in this little
ghost town.
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Q Center exhibits winners and entrants of the JUST OUT AMATEUR PHOTO CONTEST July 6 to 27 at 69 S.E. Taylor St. Join us for the opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. July 6.
Continued on Page JI
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See us at Portland, San Francisco
and Los Anaeles Pride Festivals!
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20th Anniversary Concert Sat. June 23rd 7:30 PM
Directed by Ray Elliott • Erik Olson, Accompanist
& Dance
DJ Lauren
$12 advance
$14 at door
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Bridgeport LCC 621 NE 76th Ave.
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Tickets: Music Millennium It's My Pleasure In Other Words
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