Mixing camp performance art with explorations of queer spirituality, Glamhag transcends artistic mediums to suit their inclinations. Most recently, their outlandish feature film, Holy Trinity, focuses on a queer dominatrix, played by Glamhag, who learns she can speak to the dead when she huffs aerosol spray. The film is not only whimsical in nature, starring offbeat characters from the queer performance world, but it is also an impressively psychedelic experience full of vivid backdrops and hullucinatory camera techniques. Glamhag’s patchwork style of mixed-media artwork can be traced back to their experience in the Chicago DIY art scene and as a sex worker--both of which have a sense of survival-mode to them. Indeed, both financially and artistically, Glamhag is “going to use every tool at [their] disposal to survive.”

Can you talk a bit about your art origin story and how you got involved in the DIY art scene of Chicago?

I love telling this story! When I was 18, I moved to Chicago to attend SAIC. I was taking an intro to sculpture class and getting very wrapped up in trying to figure out what I was "supposed" to be making. One weekend I ventured out to what at the time seemed like the middle of nowhere (it was Pilsen, a neighborhood I have now been living in for 6 years) to go to a DIY show called Garbage world. Garbage world was a DIY performance festival run by Eileen Doyle aka Gertie Garbage at a space called Mortville. The rooms were decorated with paper mache cabbage patch kid sculptures and glittery chaos. There Gertie Garbage was standing in all her glory; in a long pink dress cradling a cake and pouring a viscous pink liquid over herself. That night I saw pieces by legendary performers who are now my peers and friends: Carole McCurdy, Adam Rose of Antibody Corporation and more.

The group that most affected me was Pure Magical Love. Lead by founder Heather Lynn, it was a group of people performing a choreographed dance to pop songs and brightly colored spandex costumes, there was glitter, chocolate syrup, passion, narrative and fun. It was the antithesis of everything I had seen so far at art school, and I was obsessed. I am super glad I went to art school. I learned a lot and met a lot of people, but I learned much more from DIY shows. It hit me in that moment that I could do whatever I wanted, and that art for me was a spiritual experience. I didn't feel anything in a stark white wall gallery, but in a space where there were no rules and performance could be whatever you wanted it to be. I felt free and excited. I ended up being a backup dancer in Pure Magical Love for several years and being in several of Heather's projects. Pure Magical Love performs in my film Holy Trinity which was a cool full circle moment. I eventually started performing myself under the alias Glamhag.

Why did you juxtapose the two concepts of "glam" and "hag" for your performance name, Glamhag?
I was researching the etymology of the word glamour; stemming from the root word grammar from the middle ages meaning "to learn" which was commonly associated with learning of occult practices. It began as the name of a spell or an enchantment, in the particular book I was reading it was referring to a spell cast by witches to remove the penis of a man. The penises would then be hung in trees to ward off witch hunters. From a castration spell to the current meaning which can be both empowering and demeaning; glamour "beauty or charm that is sexually suggestive or mildly pornographic". I was thinking how the word has evolved and our cultural association with historically independent women. Witches, hags, spinsters, crones; these are all women who are depicted as old and ugly and therefore detestable. But why? They are single and do not have cultural currency as a woman which is sex appeal. A woman free of those things is a threat to the patriarchy. So out of this soup of ideas came Glamhag.

You identify as gender fluid. How has your artwork enabled you to explore your gender identity?
I have always been interested in performing gender stereotypes. Before I could theorize or over-think what I was doing, when I was about 10 I was always dressing up as different characters. I think the difference between character work and drag is our fixation on two binary genders; if you are one dressing up as the other it is "drag". So I go back and forth on wanting to even call what I do drag. I think that's partially because of where drag seems to be going now culturally. On the one hand cis women and other AFAB (assigned female at birth) performers are being accepted as drag queens which was not a thing a few years ago. But there is less messy gender-fuck drag nowadays and more pretty, padded, pageantry drag that I feel enforces certain beauty standards. Also a lack of acknowledgment and support towards the black trans women who pioneered drag. But in terms of exploring my own identity, it has allowed me to outwardly express different aspects of myself and my desires in ways that are fleeting impermanent which feels empowering.

Holy Trinity, your new feature film, is about a dominatrix who huffs an aerosol spray which enables her to speak to the dead. If you could talk to any person who has passed away, who would it be and why?
I want to talk to Mary, find out what really happened.

Since your persona in Holy Trinity is that of a dominatrix, how has sex work impacted your art work?
I have been a professional dominatrix/ fetish provider (aka sex worker) on and off for 5+ years. In a way I think my art practice lead me to sex work. Historically a lot of artists (namely performance artists) used sex work to support themselves. It provides us with the time and money to be artists full time and a lot of the time the work informs the art. I think it makes sense- it's a performance, it's working with people, it can be entertaining, exciting, healing. Also historically a lot of models for paintings have been sex workers. I love thinking about how I am a part of a legacy of people influencing art and culture behind the scenes. Being a Domme has encouraged a lot of thoughts about power and desire which greatly informs my work. Before I became a SWer, I made a lot of work about the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. The film has a lot of feminist anomalies including a positive representation of a gold-digger. Marilyn's character shamelessly indulges in her pursuit of money, marrying a rich man. I was so drawn to the celebration of this attitude; it was so different from the tired trope of the "good girl" who doesn't need material possessions. Fuck that! We live in full-on capitalism, baby! I am going to use every tool at my disposal to survive. We get shamed because women's bodies are supposed to be free for the taking under the patriarchy... but hookers don't play that game.

In branding everything in your film as "glam" this and that, you partake in a clever kind of subversion of capitalism (since "glam" isn't necessarily a definable brand or something you can buy, but more a part your persona). What was the idea behind this?
I wanted to create my own world, so it was a way to not let any other brands appear in the film and have a uniform design. I also wanted the film to have a dystopian, late-stage capitalism vibes; where there is a company that slowly took over everything and one day you look around and everything is Glambrand but you're totally dependent on it, and there is no way to escape.

Spirituality is an important concept in your film, as the lead character has her own spiritual awakening and seeks out the spiritual guidance of practitioners around her. Why is it important for people, especially queer people, to seek their own spiritual truth?
I think it is important because it brings meaning to life and is supposed to teach us to be better people to each other. A lot of religions are corrupt and don't accept everyone; the global reining religion has cast aside queer people and torn many people away from their families. I found spirituality in my queerness because, for me, queerness is breaking down societal structures that we are taught about who we are and redefining that for ourselves. I think people need community and purpose, and religion can provide that, but I am wary of any religion that is dogmatic rather than evolving and different for every person.

If we loved your movie, what other movies and books should we consume that had a great influence on you as an artist?
Books: Modern Primitives: An Investigation of Contemporary Adornment & Ritual (a collection of interviews), Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna by Pamela Robertson, The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. Movies: Ms 45, The Forbidden Zone, Belle De Jour, Brazil (my favorite)

Holy Trinity speaks to a new generation and presents a possibility for cinema to evolve into a more gender and sexuality-inclusive medium. Can you give us a glimpse of what the future of cinema would look like, if you had it your way?
Stories by and about people of color, women, trans women, trans men, non-binary people, fat people, people with disabilities visible and not, sex workers, immigrants. Stories including these people but not always about their plight. Stories that actively work against harmful tropes but also don't bash you over the head with performative allyship. Films made where the people they are about get paid as consultants if they are not actively involved in the creation. There are so many amazing up-and-coming filmmakers and actors and musicians of all backgrounds. My hope is that in a few years they will really start to take over the industry. I can see these changes slowly being made and it is very exciting, but there is a long way to go.