WE'RE JUST BOYS IN DRESSES

Carbondale, IL

Photography, Video, Audio, Editing

“A lot of people do it for the money - not me. I do it because people get drawn into my performance and I get drawn into them believing what it is I’m doing.” Kara Belle is from Paducah, Kentucky and has been a female impersonator for the past nine years. “It allows me to be a different person and show my creative side,” Kara says. Kara Belle says as a kid she was always the chubby one which made her self conscious. It wasn’t until college until she discovered the art of performing as a drag queen. “I finally found something where I can be myself and not be judged for it.” Kara says that being on stage is the biggest release for her. “When I’m on stage they [the audience] are not looking at me - they’re looking at this character that I create.” “Anything that you do in life that you really enjoy and people accept it - it’s a really cheap, cathartic release,” Kara Belle says. Becoming Kara Belle has taken some practice, now roughly taking Kara Belle only an hour to perfect. “I had to travel around and actually learn how to paint [term meaning to apply drag make-up] because the transition from Brad to Kara wasn’t really that profound,” Kara says, “It was really just Brad with some lipstick on.”  “Mostly everything’s fake except my teeth.”  “At the end of the day, we’re just boys in dresses, so if you make it very dramatic and drama filled, it’s not going to be fun - but if you make it as fun as it is, then you’re going to have a fun time.”