Daniel Albanese - You May Applaud

YOU MAY APPLAUD

YOU MAY APPLAUD is an ongoing series (2012–present) celebrating drag through candid street photography, where the subjects' posing is spontaneous and without direction. It includes queer luminaries such as drag pioneer Henry "Adrian" Arango who began their performing career in Cuba in the 1950s, revered performance artist Agosto Machado—who was at the 1969 Stonewall Uprising—and beloved activist Sister Lotti Da.

The series title is a reference to a banner carried at the NYC Drag March, a jubilant protest that began in 1994 after organizers of Stonewall 25 banned leathermen and drag queens from the official ceremonies. Activist Gilbert Baker—creator of the Rainbow Flag—and Brian Griffin, decided to create an alternate kick off to Pride. Decades later, a glorious assortment of gender outlaws continue to weave their way to the Stonewall, singing the same chants used a half century earlier.

Drag is the embodiment of queer creativity. It is liberation through joyous resistance—a whimsical deconstruction of the rigid social confines of gender. Drag not only rejects shame, it playfully thumbs its nose at it. Avant-garde drag trailblazer Rumi Missabu (1947–2024) once mused, “I began to feel that I was performing gay liberation through my art.” Within the liminal shadows it thrives, yet burns as bright as the blistering sun. For decades drag artists have led the revolutionary charge for change. YOU MAY APPLAUD not only documents queer history, it honors the bravery of those who bring the rebellion to the streets.