Sasha Velour's Big Reveal: Peeling Back the Layers of Drag

“The historical existence of queer people proves that the concept of “normal” can be (and already has been) more expansive than what any person can know. Drag reveals that who we ‘really are’ and how people see us aren’t fixed realities; they can be changed… perhaps just for a night, the length of a song, or even forever.” — Sasha Velour, The Big Reveal.

Image courtesy of sasha velour via facebook

A Scream and a Dream

I first set eyes on Sasha Velour in 2017, when she screamed her way onto the set of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Even louder than her introductory screech: her bizarre makeup and style. I was enthralled by the entire package from the moment I saw it. I mean, how could you not be? This was a bald, gender-fluid drag queen with a painted-on unibrow unapologetically taking up space in a competition that highly favours traditional ultra-femme drag. Oh yeah, and she won the damn thing. Clearly, RuPaul was captivated by her, too.

Winning season nine of Drag Race was only the beginning for Velour. You don’t have to watch or know anything about the show to appreciate her for who she truly is: one of the most innovative queer artists of our generation.

The World Is Her Stage

Image courtesy of vmagazine

Velour has toured the world several times, most notably with self-produced spectacles including the one-queen show, Smoke & Mirrors. In 2019, I came to our very own Algonquin Commons Theatre to experience that spectacle; little did I know it would be one of the best showcases of art I'd ever witness (or that I’d be attending the college four years later).

Back when she was on Drag Race, I went down a rabbit hole of her performances on YouTube. It was one after another; I couldn’t stop. I was watching my every notion of drag be ripped apart and meshed back together in a new and expanded form.

A typical drag performance requires lip-syncing to a song, but sometimes that’s all you see. If you’re lucky, you might see a reveal or two. Velour lip-syncs, and is certainly known for a grand reveal, but she also incorporates other visual elements that are hard to come by at most drag shows. She often uses a projector to display images on the stage, and even sometimes onto herself. Sometimes the projected image even weaves itself into her outfit. It is a beautiful reminder that drag is true visual art.

“Stranger than fiction, better than art!” MY Tattoo of the famous velour quote.

All that to say: once I saw her performances online, I knew I had to see them in person. And, thankfully for Velour’s mission to make her art accessible across the world, I didn’t have to wait long before she came to Ottawa. Not only did I get to see Smoke & Mirrors—which was even more magnificent than I’d expected—I got the chance to meet her, too. They say you should never meet your idols, but I am so glad I did. I handed her a sharpie and asked if she could write one of her famous quotes on a piece of cardstock (which I also supplied). She gleefully complied as I told her my plan to get it tattooed.

A Great Foundation

The big reveal by sasha velour, courtesy of harpercollins canada

Three years after Smoke & Mirrors, I also attended Velour’s next tour (yes, I got to show her the tattoo! She loved it!). It was a book tour for The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Drag Manifesto. However, it was also a drag show just as fierce and fantastical as any of her others (she came out disguised as an armchair! Then smashed glass on her bald head!).

Of course, I couldn’t leave The Big Reveal tour without the book it’s named after! I brought home a copy and cracked into it immediately. Not only does the book contain stunning illustrations by Velour herself, but also an important conversation about the evolution and persistence of drag. On top of that, she takes readers all the way back to her roots, where the seeds of her drag sprouted.

Velour was fortunate to be raised by people that watered those queer little seeds of creativity. Her family would often introduce her to various theatre productions and multicultural events that featured drag in one form or another. Once they noticed her taking a liking to everything drag-related, they did the opposite of repress it; they let her flourish. Velour claims that her grandmother was the first person to put her in drag.

Not only is Sasha Velour one of the most innovative queer artists of our generation, but also a prime example of how a loving and supportive family can breed some of the world’s best influences and brightest minds. 

All information in this blog post has been sourced from The Big Reveal by Sasha Velour.

Jade McConkey is an eclectic creative, a cat mom, and a Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. More than anything, she is passionate. Jade considers herself an enthusiast of many things, such as crafting, songwriting, drag, and lesbianism. When she is not playing with clay or writing songs that will never see the light of day, you can find Jade watching old seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race or Glee—the shows that gave her comfort in her queerness. Jade is also the self-published author of “This Journal Will Be Your Future Book,” a guided journal for writers, available on Amazon.