Chiquitita (drag artist)
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Chiquitita (born August 13, 1998), a.k.a. Angel Flores, is primarily a drag performance artist and seamstress, who has dabbled within collage art and resides in Brooklyn, New York. She is known for using her transformative couture fashions and her creative direction to produce live lip sync performances[1], along with her collage and design skills to bring about black and brown transgender visibility.[2][3][4]
Biography
Chiquitita, whose legal name is Angel Flores, was born in the boroughs of New York City, more specifically Queens, to parents of Salvadoran descent. Angel, whose stage name is Chiquitita, had a decent childhood until her parents had gotten a divorce while she was in the third grade. Ultimately home life had affected Flores’ duties at school, after becoming a frequent user of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms while in her early teenage years as a middle school student. Having fallen into drug addiction as a youth, Flores’ home life escalated after she briefly ran away from home.[2] Soon after returning home at the age of sixteen, Flores sobered up and was introduced to drag, an art form meant to perform gender. From then on Flores used the stage name known as Harajuku (also known as Juku), modeled after Gwen Stefani’s popular hit track. Over the years, Flores, having gone by the title of Juku, made the decision to change her stage name, which was inspired by the famous Abba track, Chiquitita. The role of Chiquitita and drag itself introduced her to a new gender identity, allowing her to realize her trans-ness through the art form of drag that entails makeup, creating her own wardrobe and lip sync performance.[5] The name Chiquitita is meant to highlight her Hispanic identity.[3] To this day, Chiquitita explores her art form within performance and has helped construct queer safe spaces[6][7], community and unity within the boroughs of Brooklyn.[8][9][10]
Art
- Head in the Clouds (2020)[8]
References
- ^ "23 People Defining "Quarantine Culture"". W Magazine. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
- ^ a b "CHIQUITITA". GAYLETTER. 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ a b Nast, Condé. "How Drag Icon Chiquitita Uses Photography to Preserve Her Memories". Allure. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Longo, Joseph (2021-07-29). "The Unexpected Summer of Lady Gaga's 'Chromatica'". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
- ^ Nast, Condé (2018-01-25). "This New Brooklyn Dance Party Celebrates the Black and Queer Roots of House Music". Vogue. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Nguyen, Andrew (2019-05-06). "The Met Gayla Was Queer, Fabulous, and Totally Absurd". The Cut. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
- ^ Dazed (2019-02-11). "Meet the incendiary voices of New York's LGBTQ underground". Dazed. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
- ^ a b Nguyen, Andrew (2021-06-21). "Drag Is Back, Baby!". The Cut. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "COVID Couldn't Stop Bushwig 2020". PAPER. 2020-10-19. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Dazed (2019-02-11). "Meet the incendiary voices of New York's LGBTQ underground". Dazed. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Nguyen, Andrew (2021-03-09). "A Jaw-dropping, 10-Foot-Tall Couture Re-creation". The Cut. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Chiquitita - Bushwig 2021, retrieved 2021-12-01