We filmed our family day outing in Waterford City, of which we also threw up quick clips on Tiktok. We all love to spend hours getting ourselves ready to deliver unique and believable characters. Although we don theatrical props like colouring our skin or throwing on a shambolic wig, we would all agree that this process helps us unlock parts of who we truly are rather than a mask we put on and take off. We’re all born naked and the rest is drag as some RuPaul wan once said.

In a metaphorical sense and sometimes literally, queer friends often take on familial roles within their grou. A ‘chosen’ family who play with gender ideals, us agreeing we typically choose gender ‘eurphoria’ and the silliness of all assumed conditions, over gender dysphoria if we can. Rhys is my drag mother (sweet but can be stern, calls you out on your slacking but always encouraging) and Erika is my drag father (chill dad,fantastic planner and great listener) - and I am their bb.

In a way, we all agree we are undergoing our second childhood. We are trying to celebrate the lives we have been privileged to have whilst being conscious of the situations of others. We all exist in a time of global crisis and meglomaniac rich bastards who ruin everything so let’s work together, yeh?

We all grew up here or in similiarly smaller county enviroments like Wicklow Town, in Jonny’s case. We are inspired by a range of cross-cultural influences, including our childhood memories of the amazing Spraoi street-arts festival and the beloved Little Red Kettle troupe which used to come to our schools and interact with us. I am particularly keen on that model of juggling prepared mayhem with actively spontaneous interaction. Being ‘able’ for any live situation, walking/talking, improvisation and comedy.

We want to materialise what we love about the internet (access to fun weirdos online and audacious aesthetics) and marry this with what we love/love to satirise about Waterford.

Although I am still as ‘chronically online’ as ever, I notice myself feeling more drawn to Waterford as I mature (and more frequently leaving Waterford) as I am less concerned with what the naysayers/NPCs (non-playable background characters, the ones greyed out that you can’t play but might shout something every once in a while) may say. Tapping into the delusion of self v the NPC demons is reassuring and helps inforce the realisation that no one really cares about what anyone else is doing, as we are too inherently focused on ourselves.

I’m more comfortable joining in as myself these days rather than blindly assimilating like before, caking myself in heavy foundation and warm smokey eyes, sporting fast fashion (tits out in a plea to assert maturity) and spending small fortunes hanging out in pubs/club nights with people I didn’t really like. It can be mortifying trying to marry your ‘irl’ real-life presentation and your ‘url’ online reality. I’m sure many other internet-users can relate.

We personally do not see many queer-coded aesthetics celebrated within Waterford’s everyday landscape. We also may not personally connect with the “I loves me county” sports tagline, but we are reclaiming our belonging into this real-life society whilst bringing our “yassified” selves and trying to better our lovely city. Out n proud xx

https://www.refinery29.com/en-au/yassification-meaning

Beyond our own needs to self-express and have fun with our own personal narratives, we also want to promote opportunities for others to express themselves.

We were stopped for pictures by multiple groups of young/teenage girls. All of them asked “What’s this for?!” or “How are ye so confident to do this?” I made the point to all of them that I was embarassed being so publically weird at first, but once embrassment ceases the fun begins. We have all experienced feelings of unease, lack of self-esteem and understanding, and I can still relate even as I’m soon turning twenty-four years old. Truly, the only thing holding us back is ourselves (OK camp counsellor) and a leap of mortifying social-experiment-style behaviour (in real-life rather than just online) can lead to a wonderful confidence boost. I would fully recommend everybody dress up crazy and leave the house.

In fact, it should be mandatory.

We want to materialise what we love about the internet (access to fun weirdos online and audacious aesthetics) and marry this with what we love/love to satirise about Waterford. We also want to draw out the amazing ‘online weirdos’ who aren’t as comfortable out and proud in Waterford as we are becoming to be, who have lots to add to this city. There is strength in numbers, and especially in the so-called ‘alphabet mafia’ (LGBTQI+) and we are friends to all whom are on a quest to accept themselves flex.

Although I am maybe still as ‘chronically online’ as ever, I notice myself feeling more drawn to Waterford as I mature (and more frequently leaving Waterford) as I am less concerned with what the naysayers/NPCs (non-playable background characters, the ones greyed out that you can’t play but might shout something every once in a while) may say. Tapping into the delusion of self v the NPC demons is reassuring and helps inforce the realisation that no one really cares about what anyone else is doing, as we are too inherently focused on ourselves.

It can be mortifying trying to marry your ‘irl’ real-life presentation and your ‘url’ online reality. I’m sure many other internet-users can relate.

It is such a relief being comfortable as myself these days rather than blindly assimilating to the Hollister-ZARA pipeline like before. Caking myself in heavy foundation and warm smokey eyes, sporting fast fashion with my boobs out in a plea to assert fierceness and utilise unavoidable objectification. Spending small fortunes hanging out in pubs/club nights with people I didn’t really like as I had not yet made real-life friends with my online confidants. We are young people in an increasingly infantilizing time (housing crisis and conflicting ethics surrounding procreation, who?!) and are not far removed at all from the death of our first childhoods to teenage mortification.

It’s a phase that every Irish teen will go through. However, I hope our physical visibility as young and accessible creatives (willing to mentor, in a sense) can be a reminder to younger folk that you;

1) don’t need to limit your ‘quirky’ behaviour to online secret accounts, or be ashamed of your aspirations to be ‘extra’.

2) don’t need to leave Waterford to have a cool, fun, artistic existence. Just because you can’t see it around you does not mean it’s not possible.