Indigenous Drag Excellence

Aunty Tamara, Feather Talia, Randy River and Ritni Tears bring unapologetically queer and Indigenous drag to the Museum, followed by a roundtable conversation with the artists on queer Indigenous joy, the fluidity of gender expression and sexuality through art and storytelling, and methodologies of honoring Indigenous experience on this land and abroad.

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art is pleased to showcase this constellation of performers for the US premier of Indigenous Drag Excellence following their presentation at the Riddu Riđđu International Indigenous Festival, the multi-day open-air festival taking place annually in the territory of the Sámi peoples in Norway, with support from the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and the Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute.

Ritni Tears is a Deanu river Sámi drag artist, storyteller and all-around gay™ superstar. He started his career as Ánde Borga in the Berlin-based fuckboizband Hot Compost in 2022. He is extremely happy to finally máhccat, come back home and do his debut drag show in Sápmi with this amazing team! Ritni Tears is an alter ego for Máret Ásllat Ivvár Ovllá Nilla Ritni Ráste, Ritni Ráste Pieski - who appears mostly as a drag king, even more gay, exxxtra & brave superstar.

Aunty Tamara is fierce, ferocious and fabulous all in one. A true power house performer, bringing the classics of soul and RnB like a true diva! Aunty pulls performance inspiration from her ancestral roots of Aotearoa, New Zealand - bringing that cultural flame to drag, unapologetically! She stands proud in her culture as a Māori, whilst standing tall in her 8" heels. Get ready to feel all the emotions as you witness the power and combination of DRAG x CULTURE!

Randy River is a drag king from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and is a registered member of Couchiching First Nation in Treaty 3 territory. Randy satirically shines a light on toxic masculinity in the late 90s and early 2000s, and his favourite pastimes include (but are not limited to) wheeling around town on his Heely's, listening to nü metal, and drinking Monster energy drinks for breakfast. He's the uncle we all love to hate!

Feather Talia is the pride of Muskowekwan First Nation and a well-known drag artist and advocate for her kin. Feather, being Two-Spirit, shares her storytelling and fun humour on and off the mic. She has a fire that no one can tarnish and dance moves that are... ok. When you come to a Feather Talia Show, you will get beauty, grace, stupidity and most of all... a fun auntie who thrives and does her own thing!

CART Captioning or ASL can be made available on request. Five external steps lead to our entrance doors: a wheelchair lift is available. All galleries are wheelchair-accessible, and a single-occupancy accessible restroom is located behind the visitor services desk: all restrooms are gender-neutral. Large print didactics are available.

For all questions or access requests, please email [email protected] with 1 week advance of your visit.

The Finnish Cultural Institute in New York works across the fields of contemporary art, design and architecture, creating dialogue between Finnish and American professionals and audiences. Founded in 1990, FCINY is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. The institute has grown from a residency program to an organization commissioning large-scale projects and events that foster critical dialogue and work to build support for professionals in architecture, design, and contemporary art.

Riddu Riđđu Festival is an international Indigenous festival, which annually takes place in Gáivuotna in Northern Norway. For more than 30 years, Riddu Riđđu has worked to create a stronger awareness and pride about the Sámi. In 2024, the festival put a spin on their annual project “Northern people of the year” by choosing to honor Queer Indigenous and invited LGBTQ2S+ artists and knowledge keepers as the festivals. The commission project “Indigenous Drag Excellence XXL” was part of this celebration.

Indigenous Drag Excellence is organized collaboratively by Riddu Riđđu Festival, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Finnish Cultural Institute in New York and the Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Institute as part of the pARTir initiative funded by the EU – NextGenerationEU. The project is also funded by Nordic Culture Point.

Host or Publisher Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art