Drag Portraits: Subverting and Relocating the National

Drag Portraits: Subverting and Relocating the National

   During class, we were shown Salman Toor's portrait of Jinnah laughing behind a veil that covered most of his face. A quick Google search brought me to this gem of a painting - a portrait of Jinnah in drag. The figure whom we have seen countless times in official portraits - always serious, formal and sophisticated - dons a feminine wig and a seductive hand gesture. 

Untitled by Salman Toor

Equating political leaders with drag attire, as well as homosexuality is nothing new. In fact, the very point I will make in this blog post is that drag portraits can be seen as the artist's attempt to subvert the supposedly 'sacred' realm of the nation and nationalist sentiment. Mocking the national is nothing new - indeed throughout this course we've looked at music videos, movies and text - but this attempt is worth serious contemplation because it relies solely on a visual resistance. Growing up in Pakistan, the State inundates us with a series of images:  the Jinnah we see in our education system and media is visually uniform. He is poised and serious, either in a sherwani or a Western-styled suit. Moreover, his posture and props show masculine power  - either sitting cross legged on a chair with an air of determination, posing with his dogs or playing pool with a cigar in his mouth. This is the image of Jinnah that is instilled in our national and mental imagination, and it is this very perception that is almost violently attacked when we see the above portrait. The 'Father of the Nation', a figure having acquired almost mythical standing, is reduced to what is popularly considered one of the lowest groups of our society. In the Saidian sense, it is quite literally taking an image widely considered to be part of the 'national' and re-locating it within the realm of the 'secular'. Ofcourse, there is also a process of emasculation going on - the 'Father of the Nation' is deprived of his masculinity and hence his role as the 'father' is questioned.

This process of subverting political power by emasculating it is also seen in this iconic portrait of LBJ and Chairman Mao.

Drag - Johnson and Mao by Jim Dine, 1967