“Deep Fried Liberation” is the first phrase on the “about us” page of Atlanta’s Southern Fried Queer Pride (SFQP) website, and “SWEET TEA: A Queer Variety Show!” lives up to this ideal.
Atlanta’s longest running queer variety show came back Jan. 27 at eyedrum art gallery. Located in West End, a historically Black neighborhood, eyedrum is a DIY artistic space that has a long history with SFQP. Their Sweet Tea show featured a variety of local queer talent, who performed a range of music, dance, drag and burlesque.
Southern Fried Queer Pride is an Atlanta-based organization devoted to empowering Black and POC queer communities in the South. The arts are a cornerstone of the organization and its community. SFQP forges spaces for BIPOC queer people in the arts, especially in opposition to oppressive narratives in the South.
In SFQP’s words, “The South is home to the country’s largest population of LGBTQIQAP2+ individuals, yet we’re confined to a narrative of stigma, statistics and struggle.” The organization’s annual queer variety show counteracts this stigma, focusing on the talent, beauty, diversity and love that courses through the Southern queer community. This was evident in all aspects of the event down to ticket sales, as no one was turned away due to a lack of funds — SFQP allowed for a sliding scale of payment.
Before the performances, attendees could gather in eyedrum’s industrial arts space, enjoy a drink, catch up with fellow Southern queer icons and appreciate the art lining the walls. As a visual art enthusiast, I could not help but spend some time checking out the pieces by Atlanta-based artists George Long and Mike Stasny, who both currently have an exhibition at Underground Atlanta. Long’s works were a fascinating exploration of the human form in time and space, with sketches of bodies sometimes so faint and small, you had to squint to see them in the dimly lit room. Stasny’s artwork struck me more as creatures rising out of a Rorschach inkblot test, both adorable in their teddy bear-like familiarity and perturbing in their half-finished deadpan faces. Their art was made all the more otherworldly by the sounds of La DJ Cochino, who blasted bass-heavy electronic tunes that filled the warehouse so that even the old wooden floorboards vibrated to the beat.
The rest of the evening was spearheaded by host Taylor Alxndr, a vocalist, performer and self-proclaimed “space-maker.” While Alxndr did not perform any musical numbers, she lit up the stage and kept the energy of the space comfortable, open and energized the entire night, even as the show continued into the early hours of the next day. With ongoing crowd polls about astrology, alphabet mafia identity and life in Atlanta, Alxndr made everyone feel like they belonged, no matter who they were or where they came from.
That energy continued into the performances of the night, which were kicked off with an unabashedly sexy burlesque performance by Evangeline Laveau, one of Atlanta’s premier burlesque talents. She was followed immediately by the musical performance of singer and fashion designer Brejahnia, who strutted onto the stage in a self-made and designed outfit. The outfit screamed Afrofuturism, with metallic silver pants and a bra-crop top hybrid accompanied by bulbous silver bands along the ankles and wrists, making Brejahnia float like an otherworldly figure above the rough industrial flooring. The Black queer magic lighting up the stage was undeniable after just two performances.
The next star of the show, SHI, really does it all. SHI is a vocalist, songwriter and activist who represents the queer trans Asian community. SHI shone on the stage, dripping in an ethereal white nightgown with luxurious white silk gloves for their first act and a detailed navy kimono with a highlighter yellow dress for their second. After their first few songs, SHI announced to the audience that they’re running for office this year. In their own words, “I am really tired of losing legislative battles to racists.” To take this into their own hands, they are running to represent Georgia House District 90, a seat previously held by Stacey Abrams and Bee Nguyen, with a fire and passion for transforming and fulfilling that role in office. This event made the audience feel as though they could change the world, with a celebration of each voice and each identity.
While the first three performers were quite experienced and cemented into the Atlanta queer performance scene, the next artist, Jaykwellyn Douglas, aka Lil Cornpop, is an up and coming trans femme rapper that lives and performs in Atlanta, and this was her official debut in the city. If that were not a part of her introduction, I would have never guessed she was a newcomer to performance, as she embodied equal parts grace and power on stage, even amongst technical difficulties. Her lyrics hit attendees in the soul and her flow stayed so perfectly on beat; it sounded like a studio-recorded track.
Boy Blue & The Bandits rounded out the evening with songs that were, as they explained, “written from a place of love,” and helped the crowd feel warmer, softer and more relaxed by the end of the night. The crowd swayed to the beat of the soothing bass guitar and soulful, lilting melodies of Boy Blue, wrapping up the night with a performance that brought the audience together.
While the evening was long and the performers coped with timing and technical difficulties, the emphasis “SWEET TEA: A Queer Variety Show!” placed on acceptance, diversity, performance and true art brought me unbridled joy. Southern Fried Queer Pride put the “variety” in queer variety show and the “sweet” in sweet tea.
