Charity Kase: "Drag helped me project what I felt after my HIV diagnosis out into the world as something positive and productive"
Charity Kase – “one of East London’s edgiest drag queens” - is known for her extravagant, sometimes disturbing, always hugely creative looks. She appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season three, where she spoke about living with HIV. We were thrilled to speak with Charity about Pride, drag, HIV advocacy and where she gets her artistic inspiration.
You've spoken incredibly movingly, in the past, not least on Drag Race, about getting your HIV diagnosis. What advice you would have for young Charity now, or an 18 year old today, who might have just received their diagnosis?
The one thing that I always try to say, in the most sensitive way possible is that the stigma is actually worse than the virus itself. It's hard to really realise that at the time, but after living with the virus for coming up to 10 years now, it's like, I don't consider it as a part of my life.
My advice to anybody going through trauma or hardships, when it comes to the diagnosis, is to take a step back and look at where that trauma or where that pain is coming from. Because most of the time, you'll see that it's coming from stigma, it's coming from judgement, it’s coming from societal views, more than anything. So when you can see it in that way, it's maybe a little easier to understand the situation and to be less hard on yourself.
There's always going to be idiots in the world who are judgmental and nasty, and put people down to make themselves feel good. You're never going to get rid of all of that. So, no matter how much we fight the stigma, no matter how much we change opinions, and we grow, and we educate, and we develop with medicine, and with decreasing infection rates; however much we move forward, you're always going to receive negativity from somebody. And I think it's really good practice to learn how to cope with that within yourself, to get comfortable with yourself and be proud who you are, no matter your HIV status, no matter what has taken you to this place.
How did you start out in drag?
When I got my diagnosis at 18 it was really hard for me to process and to deal with. I wasn’t educated about HIV, I didn't really understand what it meant, or how it affected my life. I just knew I needed to be scared of it. That was all I knew, beforehand, that was what I'd been taught. That's what I felt.
So, it was a scary time for me. And it shouldn't be scary, you know? It should only be as scary as being diagnosed with diabetes, or something along those lines. It was a shocking time and it was a self-hating time for a long while for me. My self-worth was really low.
And then I came out of the relationship that I was in at the time. Luckily, I had a really lovely support system around me. I had a roof over my head, and I didn’t need to stress about going to work and paying rent and stuff. Without that, I don’t know what would have happened to me. So I had lots of spare time in the days, and I felt like I needed to get something out of myself. I had the freedom to express myself artistically. And although I didn’t see it at the time, I guess it was kind of a way of me painting my feelings, my message on my face, without having to say it in words. I was turning myself into a monster because I felt the world was seeing me as if I was monstrous.
At this point I began to educate myself about the history of HIV and the epidemic, which was very eye-opening. And I was left with a lot of guilt and a lot of pain. Drag helped me process all of that. And it helped me project it out into the world as something positive and productive, rather than just having destructive feelings.
What is it about drag that makes it such a powerful art form?
Speaking from my experiences as a gay man, I was always bullied and made to feel small for being effeminate when I was younger. And it’s something that I've held a lot of shame about over the years - I mean, not over the last 10 years, but before that. Shame over my femininity, over the way my hips sway when I walk, how I’d always sit with my legs crossed and how camp my voice is. And I've always dressed up a bit weird. I was targeted because of my femininity.
Putting on a feminine or a female or a “creature” character, in drag, was like a free pass – I was allowed to be effeminate. Not just allowed, but celebrated for it – exactly the things that I, and many drag acts, have been physically attacked for over the years.
People are now cheering for us and telling us we look fabulous for those same things: the total opposite reaction. And that’s empowering. That’s power.
But also, it’s just captivating! It’s a captivating, interesting form of entertainment. So yeah, I understand why people love it.
Have you got a favourite look?
My favourite look is always my most recent one. I’m working on a couple at the moment. But my go-to favourite of all time has to be my dragon: my Drag Race promo look.
This Pride Season, can you tell us what Pride means to you?
To me, it’s an opportunity to not only celebrate our community and our achievements, and how far we've come with our rights and our freedom, but also a chance to reflect upon where we have been, and where we still are across the world.
For example, right now in Qatar, we have Manuel Guerrero, who is - I don't even know, there's no words to talk about that situation, let alone to justify any of it. It is outrageous. And here's exactly why we need Pride Month. My heart and my thoughts go out to him. They really, really do. And it saddens me. So that is what Pride means to me, this year, in particular.
What’s next for Charity Kase?
I've recently been working on costuming for films and TV. I'm going a bit more behind the scenes now. I'm also working on this huge project for the National Gallery to celebrate their 200 year anniversary, along with a few other creators who have made some fabulous content. That was amazing - to work with such an iconic organisation.
I'm also focusing on my art. I'm partway through my fine art degree. And I would really, really like to release a collection of my oil paintings and more traditional art, within the next year. I also recently uploaded my first ever vlog to YouTube - about visiting Tokyo go to Tokyo Fashion Week. So I'm moving into some different mediums at this point. I've been doing drag and photography for so long, I really see myself doing more creative directing. And I don't want to limit myself to one character that's made using my body. I want to create a whole world! So keep an eye on my YouTube channel to watch my creations!
You’ve kindly lent your support to National AIDS Trust’s Drag Raise fundraising initiative, writing an introduction for our fundraising packs. Can you tell us why you were keen to be involved?
I will always be here to support any charities around HIV, health care and research. And this in particular. I mean - it's drag! I'm very sad to be able to not be able to make it for the flagship launch event, but I'm sure it's going to be amazing. And I encourage everybody who is reading this to get involved and to come along and support some fabulous drag performances.
I heard that you took the name Charity Kase because of your ability to craft your looks on a very low budget. What tips do you have for someone starting out in drag, perhaps someone who's putting on their own DIY event for Drag Raise?
The trouble with working on a budget is that it’s often not super environmentally friendly. But my advice would be to recycle as much as you can. Use vintage shops, use charity shops to look for fun wacky pieces that you can build on, glue stuff to, put crystals all over! A really good time to go shopping is around Halloween, when they will have old costumes from the previous year.
Fancy dress costumes are a really good go-to for somebody starting out in drag. It's affordable, and you can make it much more fabulous and interesting, especially if you're doing something weird and wonderful like I do! You know, if you're going to dress up as a frog, you might as well be a frog in a fancy costume I say.
That sounds like a motto for life.
Exactly!