Express yourself: ABQ drag queens show local pride

When you ask Avery Martini, Epithet and Karmelíta Karbdashian what drag is, they will tell you it’s the art of self-expression and entertainment.

The three are local drag queens in Albuquerque who have rooted themselves in the LGBTQ+ community as friends and entertainers. Each of them have a story to tell about their pride, strength and fears.

Express yourself: ABQ drag queens show local pride

EpithetWhen Epithet was in high school, she was in color guard. From the moment she had her first performance, she knew she loved the spotlight. When color guard finished, Epithet sought to find something to fill her creativity and get another taste of the spotlight. After a friend introduced her to drag, she was hooked.

Later, the spotlight left as Epithet struggled to face her agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder that causes people to become afraid of leaving their home or safe space.

“I was only able to leave for work because I had to sort of trick myself out of it by viewing drag as a sort of job,” Epithet said. “It was easier for me to meet people and get out by doing this.”

Epithet’s inspiration for her name and persona stemmed from wanting to be a drag queen who did everything. She wanted to be alternative, pretty and funny.

An epithet is an adjective that can be added on to someone to describe them. Epithet feels this name describes her and her performance style the best because she does not want to be put into a box.

“Any epithet can be attached to anything,” she said.

Epithet has a lot of pride for her community and says it has become a support system, even if the drag queens all have different reasons to be performing.

“Despite us all doing the same thing, we all do it for different reasons,” Epithet said. “It’s remarkable to see the diversity in a small community. Loneliness is an epidemic, so you should find what you love. No matter where you come from, you will find your people if you do what you love.”

Epithet believes people’s anger towards the drag community comes from a lack of understanding.

“A lot of it is reactionary,” she said. “It’s very easy to be scared when you don’t understand something. When you encounter something outside of your world view, it’s easier to shut it down and not engage with it, rather than try to understand.”

Avery Martini

For Avery Martini, drag is more than a performance. It’s a lifestyle and also her full-time job. Avery’s life changed on May 9, 2018, when she joined the drag queen scene for the first time.

After the pandemic hit, with many bars and social spaces closed, many performers could not do drag shows anymore.

However, Avery continued to work from the comforts of her home. From Instagram stories to makeup tutorials, Avery continued to keep active in the drag community.

“I was still pumping out content so when everything lifted, I wouldn’t be without,” she said. “I did at-home drag shows because I knew if the pandemic ended, I wanted to be an entity of some sort.”

Avery also worked in the fashion world, doing costume design and modeling. She is also the co-producer of The Chocolate Factory, an all-Black and queer drag show group in Albuquerque that performs biannually.

Avery says that drag is all about trial and error, and it can take some time and a lot of introspection to find the persona that fits you best.

”Part of you has to nurture an aesthetic,” Avery said. “I utilize all of my skill set to create this entity that is almost bigger than me. Getting your drag face is an extremely personal thing.”

As a queer Black performer, Avery wanted to create a drag persona that represented Blackness through and through.

“I want to give a fantasy of what Black women are, should be, and have always been as a Black girl through time,” Avery said.

Avery believes that drag is all about entertainment and that some people have lost sight of what drag queens do.

“Regardless of what you’ve seen in media or what politics say, we just want to entertain people,” Avery said. “It’s okay when celebrities do it, but when your community does it, it’s suddenly taboo.”

Karmelíta KarbdashianAs a drag queen from a small town in New Mexico, Karmelíta felt there was never an outlet to express herself. After moving to Albuquerque in 2019 for college, she was able to change that. Two months later, she was getting booked for drag performances around the city.

“I started for fun but it turned into an outlet for me to release parts of myself that I normally can’t,” she said.

Karmelíta’s inspiration for her persona came from wanting to represent her culture and show her creativity.

“From the get-go, I’ve always wanted to respect the Mexican culture and aesthetic, even though I didn’t have the look all the way together,” she said. “I’m also a musician and I’ve always played music, so molding the two just amplifies everything.”

As a music student, she said she plays under a microscope and everything has to be perfect. Although Karmelíta loves being a music student and hopes to be a band director, she can feel the pressures of being so detailed.

“Here, I’ve been able to play anything that speaks to me and my own world and I have fun with it,” Karmelíta said.

Though Karmelíta is the last of the three to join the drag queen community, she said they have been warm and welcoming. Karmelíta says everyone has uplifted her, including her fellow queens Epithet and Avery Martini.

“When I started drag, I reached out to (Avery Martini) and she sent me a whole book’s worth of advice about drag,” Karmelíta said.

Karmelíta says that drag is about fun and expression, and there is something everyone can appreciate from it.

“We want to entertain and be creative and have a safe space to do that,” Karmelíta said. “I love bringing people joy. No matter the skill level, the crowd eats the girls up and we have a surprisingly supportive audience in Albuquerque.”