Fae (2001), She/Her, born in Leiden. Fae identifies as a queer bisexual woman and is a drag (make-up) artist. She describes her art as a way of shapeshifting; she likes to do creative, conceptual looks that play with certain themes or feeling to transform into a self-made fantasy character.
Creating looks through makeup and drag is a form of escapism and helps her express all the stuff bottled up inside her brain, from the colorful fantasy stuff to the dark side of things. Drag helps her transform all of this into something more tangible and beautiful, which makes the process of doing and being in drag extremely therapeutic and personal to her.
Struggling with mental health, learning disability, and autism caused her to eventually pursue her passion for creative makeup. Drag and the art of makeup have changed her life in various ways, changing her outlook on the world and herself.
This brain that caused her to feel alienated also brought her creativity, endless fantasy worlds living in her mind, and a neverending motivation to keep creating.
How do you take something that lives and exists only in your brain and transform it into something tangible, something you can comprehend, and even more so; how do you transform struggling into something beautiful?
Sticky and tired.
Sticky.
Tired.
Who I am is my calling.
My queerness.
Sticky.
Tired.
At the end of the day,
even when all the layers are out,
I am.
Sticky and tired.
Rik Versteeg
Fae
Joana Cavaco
Sylwia Bilska