Girlfriend — Michael James O’Brien

Lavinia (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

Lavinia (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

“ I came to Manhattan with just a handbag” - Lavinia Co-op

Ebony Jet (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

Ebony Jet (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

“We’re all born naked, everything else is drag” - RuPaul Charles

Miss Guy (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

Miss Guy (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

“You’ve got your mother in a whirl; she’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl.” - David Bowie, Rebel, Rebel

Lady Bunny, Wigstock, NYC, 1992

Lady Bunny, Wigstock, NYC, 1992

“The woman who comes by her beauty naturally is not necessarily intelligent or clever or even congenial-just lucky” - Holly Brubach, Girlfriend; Men, Women and Drag (Random House 1999).

Billy Beyond and Sister Dimension, NYC, 1992

Billy Beyond and Sister Dimension, Wigstock, NYC, 1992

“Clothes are but the symbol of something hid deep beneath” - Virginia Woolf, Orlando

O Dorian; Dorian Corey (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

Dorian Corey (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

Dorian Corey, drag performer & trans woman is the narrator of “Paris is Burning” (Jennie Livingston, 1990). “If two people remember your name, then you’ve left a mark. If you shoot an arrow and it goes real high, hooray for you.” - Dorian Corey. She died in 1993.

“Years ago , closing a place, hitting the street, looking up-I saw (I thought I saw) Dorian Corey in her yellow feather coat, at dawn, but it was only the sun” -Michael James O’Brien, Blueprint c.2019mjo

Constance (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

Constance (Girlfriend), Wigstock, NYC, 1992

“Holly came from Miami, F-L-A, Hitchhiked her way across the USA. Plucked her eyebrows on the way; shaved her legs and then he was a she. She said, ‘Hey, Babe, take a walk on the wild side’” - Lou Reed, “Walk on the Wild Side”.

Butch Chanel: John, Robert and Michael, NYC, 1992

Butch Chanel: John, Robert and Michael, (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

“He left Phoenix in the morning, in the early dawning moments when the world is purple; and he saw on the highway, bands of spectral birds clustered on the pavement searching for God knows what…so near the sleeping city.” - John Rechy, City of Night (Grove Press, 1955).

LaHoma Van Zandt, NYC, 1992

LaHoma Van Zandt, (Girlfriend), NYC, 1992

“As soon as I finished work I’d walk around the streets of Atlanta looking for something. I saw these two creatures with long hair and make-up just walking along the street screaming. I knew that I had found what I was looking for.” - Jayne County, Man Enough to be a Woman (Serpents Tail, 1995).

JoJo Americo, Wigstock, NYC, 1992

“Just like perfection Ego alert, flawless Absolutely flawless” - The Ones, Flawless

All Photographs c.2021michaeljamesobrien All Rights Reserved

All photographs were made with a Pentax 6x7 on Kodak Tri-x film rated at 320 in natural light.

Joey Arias Channeling Billie Holiday, NYC, 1992

Timeless and Legendary.

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist” - Oscar Wilde

Jem Jender, Studio, NYC, 1992

Jem Jender, NYC, 1992

“We are living in a hall of mirrors. In drag we witness the triumph of illusion.” - Holly Brubach, Girlfriend; Men Women and Drag (Random House, 1999).

Alexander (Girlfriend) Wigstock, NYC, 1992

Tabboo!, NYC, 1992

Tabboo!, NYC, 1992

“They will roll down the rugs or sprawl carefully on coaches. Their make up will be perfect. They will take back the night.” - Chi Chi Valenti, Take Back the Night

Mona Foot, Wigstock, NYC, 1992

Mona Foot is the performance persona of Nashom Wooden. He died on May 12, 2020.

“The living language of dreams. The dead language of waking….We must interpret and translate.” - Jean Cocteau, The Diary of a Cure (Grove Press, 1955).

Ming Vauze, NYC, 1992

Ming Vauze (Benjamin Liu), NYC, 1992

“Impersonation is the supreme act of creation.” - Yukio Mishima, Forbidden Colors

Kabuki Starshine, Wigstock, NYC, 1992

“Nobody wakes up looking like Dietrich or Garbo” - Kabuki Starshine

Ulrich Suss, NYC, 1992

Ulrich Suss, Wigstock, NYC, 1992

“He rose. He stood upright in complete nakedness before us, and while the trumpets pealed Truth! Truth! Truth! we have no choice left but to confess - he was a woman.” - Virginia Woolf, Orlando

Tabboo! (#2), NYC, 1992

Tabboo! (#2), NYC, 1992, Stephen Tashjian

All photographs were made with a Pentax 6x7 on Kodak Tri-x film rated at 320 in natural light.

Girlfriend; Men, Women, and Drag with photographs by Michael James O’Brien & text written by Holly Brubach was published by Random House in 1999.