A drag queen has sparked nationwide celebration because the “satisfaction of Taiwan” and gained reward and congratulations from the island’s president after profitable RuPaul’s Drag Race on the weekend.
On Saturday, the long-running, Emmy award-winning US actuality present, by which drag queens compete in challenges together with lip-sync performances, revealed the winner of its sixteenth season as Nymphia Wind, the drag character creation of Leo Tsao, a 28-year-old Taiwanese designer.
Nymphia Wind’s entry in RuPaul’s Drag Race drew large assist from her dwelling nation, which is changing into more and more well-known for its vibrant and vibrant drag group.
At Taipei’s Ximending Purple Home advanced, the birthplace of the Taiwanese capital’s drag scene, crowds at weekly dwell screenings grew as she progressed by means of the rounds.
On the announcement of her win in the course of the present’s finale on Saturday, followers at Purple Home screamed, hugged, and waved the bananas that Nymphia Wind had made a logo of her Asian and Taiwanese id.
The subculture just isn’t usually mentioned intimately in Taiwan however native media gave her win in depth protection, saying she had “damaged the Asian curse” and “set a report as the primary particular person [from] Taiwan”.
Accepting her win, Nymphia Wind stated: “Taiwan, that is for you”, prompting thanks from the president, Tsai Ing-wen, for “dwelling fearlessly”.
“Congratulations to you, Nymphia Wind, for being so achieved within the troublesome artwork type of drag, and for being the primary Taiwanese to take the stage and win on RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Tsai stated.
Tsai and her ruling occasion DPP pushed arduous to reinforce LGBTQ+ rights in Taiwan, together with legalising same-sex marriage in 2019, the primary in Asia to take action, and amending the regulation to permit same-sex {couples} to undertake kids in 2023.
Nymphia Wind, who grew up in Taiwan and Hong Kong, has stated that with the assist of her mom, who flew to New York for the ultimate episode, she developed a ardour for style and drag throughout her research in London.
Her performances on Drag Race have been full of east Asian and Taiwanese components – bubble tea, Taiwanese temples and Chinese language conventional opera, and the color yellow – representing her private background. She grew to become identified for her self-created outfits and was nicknamed Banana Buddha, and her followers as Banana Believers.
“Yellow is not only a color, it’s me as an Asian particular person,” she wrote on her social media. “My existence is yellow. I’m at all times sporting yellow. Via drag it has taught me to understand my Asian id.”
She advised Leisure Weekly her ultimate costume, a boba-tea-themed outfit, was her approach of “being camp and nonetheless representing my nation, and discovering a enjoyable approach to do that lip-sync … I clearly got here right here to signify my nation, and I’m not going to do it by placing a flag on my gown.”
In November 2023, Nymphia Wind carried out at a standard Taoist temple in Taiwan, subverting the standard venues of the nation’s religions and making drag queen tradition extra accessible to the general public.
“This occasion is meant for everybody to take part in, breaking the echo chamber by inviting elders and youngsters to return collectively to benefit from the pleasure of cross-dressing, placing apart prejudices and having fun with the second collectively in the identical house,” Nymphia Wind wrote on social media.
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