From Worksop to TV drag stardom
A ’WHORA LOVES TO ‘MESS WITH PEOPLE’S MINDS’
WHILE growing up in Nottinghamshire, draq queen A’whora could not imagine she would one day be showing off glamorous looks on the biggest TV show for fans of the culture.
But the 23-year-old is now a contestant on Rupaul’s Drag Race UK and has described getting there from starting out in Worksop and having only been a drag queen for the last two years.
Studying a diploma in womenswear and fashion at college in Mansfield was the beginning of a journey that now sees A’whora regularly dress up in drag, seeking to “distort people’s perspectives” and “mess with their minds.”
A’whora struggled to see drag as a planned career choice, but that all changed after studying at London College of Fashion and being submerged in the capital’s LGBT culture. Born George James Boyle, the drag queen has been living in London from the age of 18 and said: “I wouldn’t say I was always into drag but it did inspire some of my fashion work in college.
“Growing up in Notts, it didn’t really feel normal to see a drag queen around. The community isn’t that big in the county, especially outside the city.
“Those kinds of ideas were not really projected on to me until I got to London to go to university and saw it with my own eyes.
“I started to really get into the idea of how I could play with the concept of gender when going to nightclubs. I’ve only really been it for two years since I graduated.
“I’d say my inspiration comes from distorting people’s perspectives and messing with people’s minds. I’ve always found it so odd that people can get really upset by that sense of shock.
“Drag is everything I’m not, to be honest, and it’s really changed the way people perceive me.”
A particular character A’whora has drawn inspiration from is Disney’s Maleficent, played by Angelina Jolie, for both her looks but also how she is “judged for the way she looks”.
A’whora added: “It’s a sense of escape for me. I could walk into a nightclub and be someone else completely.
“I never thought I’d end up this obsessed with it all and on the biggest show for drag queens.
“It was a hard process to be selected where you basically had to show your portfolio in drag and meeting Rupaul is crazy because they say you shouldn’t meet your idols but he is amazing.
“He really has your best interests at heart and wants you to do well.”
The first episode of the second series of Rupaul’s Drag Race UK aired last week with episode two airing on BBC Three via iplayer tomorrow.
I’ve always found it so odd that people can get really upset by that sense of shock
A’whora
A graduate from the University of Nottingham is also a contestant on the series.
Describing herself as the “queen of Clapham”, 30-year-old Tia Kofi – born Lawrence Bolton – says that being raised by older queens has inspired her mission to keep oldschool drag alive.