Tara Zann Transcends Traditional Gender Norms Through Drag

When I was putting together my second collection of creative portraits, ‘Stygian Stones’ (a visual journey of survival in a toxically masculine society), I wanted to express fragility and purity while examining the feminine and the masculine in me or us as a whole. 

For this, I needed to find models who could fulfil those complex angles and that’s when my previous collaborator and friend, Monty Malcolm Thomas / Jess Whoo, suggested we bring Jake in for this series. 

He really possessed the androgyny I was looking for, and, knowing what I know now after my recent discussions with him, he also held a melancholy in his eyes that was perfect for the series and for the Ophelian nostalgia I was going for. 

Jake has an alter ego, Tara Zann, turning looks for events or even regular nights out in The Valley. He recently performed on stage at The Wickham’s Big Gay Day for Mega Drag and on our recent portrait session for The Garlands Project, I asked him how it went.

“Big Gay Day is always a hoot but you could notice the difference this year with the lower covid capacity. I love turning rainbow looks for pride events, being a walking pride flag is my favourite type of drag.”

I personally love how drag is constantly evolving and it encompasses many forms of self expression now. Tara Zann is no exception! 

Jake spoke a little about his form of drag or style as Tara Zann.

“Tara Zann is a gender flip on Tarzan, which I choose to represent the muscularity I possess but also my desire to transcend traditional gender norms through my drag. Also my name on insta makes a double gender flip on Tarzan and Jane to Tara Zann and Jake. 

To me drag is all about self-exploration and artistic expression. I like exploring all aspects of gender in my drag, from drag king to androgyny to drag queen.”

He went on to talk about where his inspiration comes from when putting together a look or performance.

“My inspiration comes from a range of places, often I will have an item of clothing I want to wear and I will construct a look around that piece of clothing. Sometimes I find cool makeup on insta or looks that my drag mother Jess Whoo has done before and give myself the challenge of replication. 

I do enjoy having a theme to dress to as well! Even before I started doing full on drag, I loved turning looks for all the themed parties (in retrospect I have been doing drag a lot longer than 18 months as I have been turning looks for 3 or 4 years now).”

I could see that Jake loves what he does, but there was also a sadness there. He opened up about the dark side of drag. 

“There is a love/hate relationship that many gay men have with drag artists. They will be in the club living for us and appreciating the vibe/entertainment/fun we bring to the club or party, but on the flip side they want nothing to do with us outside of the club. 

I get femme shamed regularly by men online who are interested in me up until the point they find out I am a drag queen, they will literally say ‘oh I am not interested in people who do that’ or something similar. 

What’s worse is these guys will often think it's fun to have drag parties or will dress up fem for Mardi Gras etc, and then continue to shame the actual professional drag artists the rest of the year. 

I have a separate Instagram just so I can give that to guys if I don’t want to reveal that I am a drag queen and that’s pretty fucked up that I have to do that. I mean I guess I don’t want to date those sorts of people anyway but it’s still disheartening when it’s just a part of what makes up me.”

This hits me to the core and really resonates with me. I am not a drag artist, nor am I on the dating scene, but I do get daily comments that I am “too skinny”. I am 6 foot 2 and weigh 80kg and feel pretty good about myself until someone says that to me. 

Why is it that I cannot be skinny? Does that make me less masculine? And what is wrong with that? And who are you to make comments about me and my body? 

Some recent comments to me;

“You’d be hotter with a bit of meat on your bones”

“You come across as masculine but then you’re not really are you?”

“You’ve lost so much weight, what’s happened?” (I haven’t actually). 

Fuck. Off. 

It makes me think of the opening line of Madonna’s 2000 hit ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl’..

“Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short

Wear shirts and boots 'cause it's okay to be a boy

But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading

'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading

But secretly you'd love to know what it's like wouldn't you

What it feels like for a girl”

Jake and I bring it back to talk about ignoring the haters, finding self worth and what pride means to him. He says;

“Pride is such an important thing to me, as there is still so much more progress to be made before the LGBTQIA+ community has equality across the globe. Pride is about visibility and sharing our joy and happiness in being our authentic selves with the rest of society. Without visibility we would lose our allies, and without our allies those that wish us harm could easily overpower the LGBTQIA+ community as we are a minority and we rely on our many straight allies to give us the majority over those that wish to discriminate and oppress us. 

I also think that showing queer pride in your everyday life can have a major impact on younger queer people, just seeing someone like them who has made it through the troubles of being young and queer and living a happy life can give these people hope for their future and courage to be their authentic selves. From my first Mardi Gras to my most recent, my favourite event is the parade because it is such an amazing thing to see so many people from all sorts of backgrounds coming out to support me and the LGBTQIA+ community.”

Jake ends with his goals and aspirations for the near future.

“Drag is just a creative outlet for me and something I love doing, but one thing I would very much enjoy would be performing at Fluffy and of course a residency there would be amazing!”

Let’s make that happen!

The Garlands Project is a safe space for the local LGBTQIA+ community to express themselves and showcase their unique beauty with a collection of contemporary portraits.

The portraits and stories will become an anthology, or year book with the faces and tales of the diverse Brisbane community.

Would you like to tell your story with a collection of portraits? You are all invited and welcome, so please fill out the contact form or email me directly to register your interest.

XO