Archiving sartorial narratives from India: An interview with Maya the Drag Queen

Maya the Drag Queen is Alex Mathew, a drag persona from Kerala, India. Being a drag queen in Indian society takes a lot of guts, confidence and determination. Alex has been performing as a theatre actor since 2011 and as an Indian drag queen since September 2014. They have been credited with making drag popular as an art form in India. Their ideals are to fight against inequality, individualism, gender equality and feminism. Their purpose is to mainstream drag as an art form on many platforms that will give them a voice and show the truth about the Indian community. This article is an interview conducted with Maya the Drag Queen, which discusses the varied aspects of drag as a performance art in the cultural context of India. It specifically addresses the politics and performance of drag; its reception and challenges in India; the role of fashion and clothing in constituting the drag identity; the characteristics of gender nonconformity and queer fashion in India.