On Independence Day my photographer friend, Justin Wee, and I visited The Pines on Fire Island in New York.
During the 70’s, a restaurant on the island denied entry to a visitor in drag. The Pines is a beach town on Fire Island, east of NYC with a predominately gay community . When the customer’s friends found out about the occurrence, they gathered local queens, and sailed in full drag by water taxi to storm the island. This created the tradition of a “drag invasion” on Fire Island Pines every July 4th. The event is repeated annually with hundreds of drag queens and performance artists.
The two of us combed the island for the fiercest and most unique queens. Much like the queens, both of us have unique visual styles.
A little about us:
Justin Wee is a photographer and writer who recently moved to NYC from Sydney, Australia.
Ryker Allen is a 19 year old photographer focusing on queer male youth, he attends the School of Visual Arts.
Photography by Ryker Allen and Justin Wee, words by Ryker Allen.
Absolutely love the photos!