Taiwan Drag Goes Global
One of the world’s biggest reality TV competitions is RuPaul’s Drag Race, which just kicked off its latest season. And for the first time, a Taiwanese drag queen is bringing her traditional culture to the center stage.
On this episode of Zoom In Zoom Out, TaiwanPlus reporter Philip Brossard sits down with RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 contestant Nymphia Wind. We first zoom in on Nymphia's personal journey in drag, then zoom out to look at how she’s bringing Taiwan’s drag to the world.
On this episode of Zoom In Zoom Out, TaiwanPlus reporter Philip Brossard sits down with RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 contestant Nymphia Wind. We first zoom in on Nymphia's personal journey in drag, then zoom out to look at how she’s bringing Taiwan’s drag to the world.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to Zoom In Zoom Out,
00:15 your global look at news from here in Taiwan.
00:17 I'm Philip Roussard.
00:18 The drag arts are growing more and more popular
00:19 around the world,
00:21 and here in Taiwan, they've boomed in popularity recently.
00:24 Now one of Taiwan's longest performing drag queens
00:27 is striking out on the world stage.
00:29 And with us here is Nymphia Wins.
00:32 Nymphia, welcome to the show.
00:33 - Thank you for having me.
00:35 - We want to zoom in on your drag journey here.
00:40 So how did you get into drag?
00:42 - So I was like cross-dressing since I was like 12, 13
00:46 with a bunch of girls,
00:47 and we would dance to those Girls' Generation music videos.
00:51 And then since that, I had this idea of, you know,
00:54 cross-dressing, and I've always had long hair
00:56 when I was very young to like my waist.
00:59 And then like going into university,
01:01 like I got to know more about drag,
01:04 and that's when it really started.
01:07 So being a young little gay boy in university,
01:10 you want to experience everything.
01:11 So I was like going on the night out in London,
01:13 seeing all these people.
01:15 So I would like go by myself to these clubs,
01:18 like do drag makeup, which was hideous, and go see shows.
01:23 So like, I remember Aquaria went to London to perform,
01:26 but she wasn't announced on the show.
01:28 But like, I was obsessed with Aquaria,
01:30 so I went to see her in drag by myself
01:33 to this little club in East London to see her perform,
01:38 which was crazy.
01:41 - So you've mentioned Aquaria.
01:43 - Yeah.
01:43 - Are there any, these are some of your inspirations.
01:45 Are there any other inspirations?
01:47 - I don't know.
01:48 I try to emulate like fierce Asian woman,
01:52 'cause I feel like Asian woman in Western media
01:55 is not really portrayed as much.
01:57 Like think of an Asian pop star in Western culture.
02:01 Like I don't see anyone.
02:03 I'm not saying I'm gonna be a pop star,
02:04 but it's just like an image of a fierce, fun Asian woman.
02:09 I try to imagine that in my drag.
02:13 - You're also known as the Banana Buddha.
02:15 Can you tell us where that came from?
02:18 - I don't really know.
02:19 It's definitely a slow development.
02:21 It was in 2020 when I like made this
02:23 full on, full on yellow outfit.
02:25 And I was like, oh my God, I think I'm obsessed.
02:28 I was like yellow hair, yellow corset,
02:29 yellow harness, everything yellow.
02:32 I was like, since that I started like being more obsessed
02:34 with yellow and I started like wearing all yellow.
02:37 And then people would say I look like a banana.
02:38 I would say like, I am a banana 'cause I'm full on yellow.
02:42 And I, a banana idea for me is like, it's camp.
02:45 It's kind of like sexual, like kind of hinting to sex.
02:50 It's phallic.
02:52 It's just like a really fun object
02:53 and it appears a lot in pop art.
02:55 So like bananas just made sense.
02:58 - And you take a lot of inspiration from your culture.
03:01 Right?
03:02 And so how does growing up in Taiwan influence your drag?
03:06 - I was born in the States and I moved to Hong Kong
03:09 and I lived in Hong Kong for a few years.
03:11 Then I moved back to Taiwan.
03:12 So I feel like for me doing drag
03:15 and incorporating my own culture is a way
03:17 of me reconnecting with my own background.
03:20 Since I didn't really have that at a young age.
03:23 So it's like me trying to get to know my culture again
03:26 through drag.
03:27 - And what do you see in these like more traditional aspects
03:31 of Taiwanese culture?
03:33 And when you look at it, you see drag.
03:35 So like, where do you see drag
03:37 in these traditional aspects of Taiwanese culture?
03:41 - So I try to like find elements of those traditional acts
03:46 like, you know, temple fairs, having a banquet,
03:49 these shows at temples.
03:52 Like you basically have pole dancers who go naked
03:55 to dance for the gods.
03:57 You wouldn't necessarily think you would see
03:59 these performances at a traditional temple
04:02 where you're supposed to be praying to gods
04:04 to see naked woman dance on a pole
04:07 and people singing karaoke.
04:09 And it's just like these elements of this culture of Taiwan
04:12 like very collage, very messy.
04:15 And it's just very loose.
04:16 Like you would never see that in Christianity.
04:19 Like a person dancing on a pole,
04:22 singing karaoke for the gods.
04:25 So I don't know, it's just very fun to me.
04:28 It's like an element of camp.
04:31 - We're gonna zoom out and take a look
04:32 at how you bring your drag to the rest of the world.
04:35 But before we do that, we wanted to look at
04:37 one of your latest performances.
04:39 Have a look.
04:40 (speaking in foreign language)
04:47 (upbeat music)
04:49 (speaking in foreign language)
04:56 (speaking in foreign language)
05:00 (speaking in foreign language)
05:29 So that performance was performed here, right?
05:32 So can you tell us about that performance?
05:34 Like how did it come about and what was your ideas for it?
05:37 - So I was in New York at the time
05:39 and I knew I wanted to come back to Taiwan
05:41 'cause I absolutely love this country.
05:44 So I had this idea and vision in my head.
05:47 I wanted to come back and have a banquet
05:49 and just celebrate, especially in Pride Month
05:52 since Taiwan is the first Asian country in Asia
05:57 to legalize gay marriage.
05:58 And my friends, you know, I would discuss
06:00 with my friends of what to do
06:01 and they're like, "You should do it at the temple."
06:03 'Cause originally I just wanted a banquet.
06:06 It didn't matter where it would be held,
06:09 but like it ended up being in a temple.
06:12 So like the story behind the show,
06:14 it's basically a folklore in Taiwan.
06:17 It's eight immortals crossing the sea.
06:20 So basically the idea is us drag queens
06:23 are the eight immortals and we're like
06:26 descending onto Taiwan's soil to bless the gays
06:31 on October in Pride Month.
06:35 So that was the basic idea 'cause the stage,
06:37 the setup of this temple is the stage
06:39 and then there's a little pond in between the audience
06:42 and the stage.
06:43 So it created this idea of crossing, you know,
06:47 a little pond which signified the sea,
06:50 crossing the sea onto the audience and then,
06:53 you know, performing.
06:54 So with that pride flag, it was like from the stage,
06:56 releasing a rainbow flag into the audience.
07:00 That was my vision.
07:01 - And there was, I mean, people of all kinds here.
07:04 There was some of like all generations
07:07 and how did it feel to perform for such a diverse crowd?
07:11 - My favorite part performing in a temple
07:14 is how it could reach out to an older generation.
07:19 Anyone could see the show.
07:20 It's not like in a club, in a bar
07:23 where only specific people who go out in nightlife see.
07:26 There's people like running at night
07:28 around near the park next to the temple.
07:30 So people would see something happening here
07:33 and the temple obviously had its own audience
07:36 'cause sometimes they do shows here themselves.
07:39 And the temple were really like passionate about the show.
07:43 They really wanted us to give them promo stuff
07:46 and then they like printed it out
07:47 and stuck it around the neighborhood
07:49 to notify the neighbors that they had the show
07:51 going on here that day.
07:53 And yeah, it just really reached out to a different crowd.
07:56 So people like older people brought children
07:59 and parents brought children.
08:00 So it was like a very diverse crowd,
08:02 which was very, you know, in a way touching
08:05 'cause it just celebrates this idea of drag
08:08 and that drag is fun
08:09 and it shouldn't be for a specific crowd.
08:13 - And so there's never been a queen like you on RuPaul, right?
08:16 What are you hoping to bring to RuPaul?
08:18 Like when you arrive, what are you thinking?
08:19 Like, this is me, this is what I am gonna show on RuPaul
08:23 that's different from everybody else.
08:25 - Being an Asian queen
08:27 and being able to really incorporate
08:29 my traditional background already gives me an edge
08:32 in this competition, which makes me really unique.
08:35 'Cause I feel like not a lot of people
08:37 can do this kind of drag that I do.
08:42 'Cause I feel like drag is a very Western concept
08:45 and a lot of people who grow up watching "Drag Race"
08:48 have this idea of how to do drag
08:51 through watching "Drag Race."
08:53 So they don't necessarily think of,
08:55 "Oh, I could incorporate this,
08:58 a more traditional way of doing drag into their own drag
09:02 because they aspire to maybe more Western drag."
09:06 - You wore this outfit for one of the RuPaul's episodes.
09:11 And can you tell us about the outfit?
09:12 How'd you come up with it?
09:14 - This outfit I prepared for the talent show section
09:17 and for that I felt like it was a very unique chance
09:21 for me to showcase my culture.
09:23 'Cause RuPaul's "Drag Race" is a competition format.
09:27 So you don't necessarily get a lot of opportunities
09:31 to really do a more serious cultural things.
09:35 So I decided to do this traditional sleek dance
09:39 for my talent number.
09:40 So I reached out to a person,
09:43 a Taiwanese designer I used to work for
09:45 to make this outfit 'cause he specializes
09:48 in more traditional kind of outfits.
09:51 So like they made this bird,
09:53 which is a Taiwanese national bird,
09:57 the Taiwanese magpie on my head.
10:00 So for that talent number,
10:01 I imagined being a Taiwanese bird
10:04 landing on American soil,
10:06 doing my little dance around the stage.
10:09 So today's makeup is inspired by a bird face paint
10:15 of the traditional arts,
10:18 incorporated with different patterns
10:20 of what they do in traditional face paint in Peking opera.
10:25 So I kind of like combined that into my drag aesthetic.
10:30 So it's basically a bird beak with teeth and Asian swirls.
10:35 (laughs)
10:37 - So before you were on RuPaul's "Drag Race",
10:39 you performed in New York, correct?
10:41 - Yes.
10:42 - So what's the biggest difference you feel
10:44 between the drag scene there
10:45 and the drag scene here in Taiwan?
10:47 - Well, one thing that's like an obvious difference
10:50 is the drag scene here,
10:53 it's the clubs and bars that reach out to Queens
10:56 to organize shows.
10:59 But in New York, it's drag Queens who reach out
11:03 to other drag Queens who book them for shows.
11:06 So it's basically like these drag Queens become producers
11:08 and produce their own shows
11:10 and they bring to different bars and clubs
11:11 and see who wants to work with them.
11:13 And obviously the drag scene in New York is very big.
11:16 So like there's different groups of like Queens
11:19 and it's very diverse in performance.
11:21 You have Manhattan drag, you have Brooklyn drag
11:23 and you have Queen drag.
11:25 So like they all like have different kind of aesthetic
11:28 and different performance styles.
11:30 But in Taiwan, it's very,
11:32 for lack of better words, one note.
11:35 It's not saying like it's not fierce,
11:37 but like the drag here is very lively as well,
11:42 but it's a different kind of lively.
11:44 One thing I find interesting in drag here is
11:49 you get a lot of different groups of people
11:52 reaching out to drag 'cause they're so interested in it.
11:56 Like university would reach out to drag Queens
11:58 to invite them to give talks,
12:00 to introduce drag culture in Taiwan,
12:04 where necessarily I didn't really see a lot of that
12:07 in New York drag, maybe 'cause it's so big.
12:09 So I wouldn't see it, but in Taiwan,
12:11 'cause it's so tight knit and so small.
12:13 So a lot of different groups of people get to see drag.
12:16 So I feel like drag in Taiwan gets to be introduced
12:20 into different sectors of society.
12:24 - As drag has become more and more mainstream,
12:26 are you worried that it's gonna be homogenous
12:29 around the world?
12:31 - I'm not really concerned about that
12:33 because I have been around
12:35 and I've seen different drag scenes around the world.
12:38 And I feel like they all still have their unique styles
12:42 of performing and doing drag.
12:46 But I do worry how people watching the show,
12:50 they have this idea of what drag has to be
12:54 and how to do drag.
12:55 Of course, if you wanna be good,
12:57 obviously it's better to sew or make your own stuff.
13:01 'Cause I feel like drag for me is a very personal journey.
13:04 So if you are able to do that,
13:05 that also makes your journey even more creative
13:09 and more self-taught compared to someone
13:13 who maybe doesn't know how to do all those stuff.
13:16 The start of doing drag,
13:17 you're not necessarily gonna instantly look gorgeous
13:20 'cause you have to figure out what works on your face
13:25 and your proportions.
13:28 But throughout time and practicing,
13:30 I feel like drag makeup kind of melts into your face.
13:33 And that's when you start to look really beautiful
13:35 and polished in drag.
13:37 So I feel like that's a journey in itself.
13:40 And that's what's fun about drag.
13:43 That process of knowing yourself and what you like to do
13:47 and what you wanna look like, you get to decide on that.
13:51 - Well, thank you for going through that struggle
13:53 to share your drag with the world and with us here today.
13:56 - You're not gonna have a photo of my first time in drag.
13:59 (laughs)
14:01 - I thank you for watching "Zoom In, Zoom Out."
14:03 For more stories from Taiwan and around the world,
14:05 please watch the Taiwan Plus social media.
14:08 Thank you and see you next time.
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