"Dragged to Kill"
By Rogelio Pereda
14 April 2008
The individuals I find and photograph in the street are unique, because once a year during the LGBT Pride, they strip away the disguises that "normality" imposes on them and embody their yearnings in the light of day: signs of a world where it is possible to be faithful to the inner self even while glorifying the external. These people are unique yet countless, like the manifestations of human sexuality that have multiplied the aims of the esthetics of the body into a spread like the spectrum of light.
They pose with concentration, proud and isolated from the visual noise of the street, and I may capture the exceedingly sublime nature of their beauty, without retouching or other tarnishes, and show it in full sun without protective shading, inviting all observers to a show of the latest fashion individually invented. A fraction of a second is enough to grace them with clarity and the miracle of defining their own selves better. They never fail in that effort, cross-dressed to kill, even as they manage to hint they could be even more spectacular. A medium-sized camera, a rectangle of white plastic as background and the total will of my subjects to achieve the absolute are the only elements that I use to elevate their efforts to be more than beautiful to the immensely fabulous.
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