Shantay, We Will Stay!

This series reimagines historic symbols of freedom through the language of drag, queerness, and performance. It does not speak only to transgender experience, but to queer communities, drag culture, and all minorities whose presence has been questioned, erased, or politicized.

They tried to erase us. So I painted us louder.

Drag is central to this work. Not as parody, provocation, or belief system, but as a deliberate performance with a message. Drag has always been a space of celebration and resistance, a way to claim visibility, challenge power, and speak truth through exaggeration, beauty, and courage. It is not religion. It is expression.

Through sharp geometric forms and unapologetically vibrant color, the series honors the right to exist openly and without apology. By reclaiming symbols of freedom and reshaping them through a queer lens, the work confronts who is allowed visibility, who is protected, and who is pushed to the margins.

Shantay, We Will Stay is both affirmation and refusal. It asserts presence, dignity, and the freedom to choose one’s own identity. Because freedom is meaningless unless it includes all of us.