Only Flags - Flaming Flagettes

This month we showcase the queer self-representational photography of the Flaming Flagettes, with their multimedia show "Only Flags". The Flagettes are an all-drag flag-dancing team based in New Orleans, active since 2016. Following the Aquarium Gallery fire that year, Jacob Reptile sought refuge with Miss Bernadette Weatherly, and the two of them gave birth to The Flaming Flagettes. The group has paraded and performed at Mardi Gras, Gay Easter, Southern Decadence, and other occasions every year since then.

When the pandemic began in 2020, the Flagettes were suddenly unable to perform in public, and turned to virtual performance and photography. They produced their first calendar in December 2020, featuring mostly single-person, in-home shots due to social distancing constraints. But subsequent calendars have involved more elaborate concepts, set design, props, and editing, along with a deeply fruitful collaboration with Leone Julitte, as well as a few other photographers. The calendars have been loosely themed: astrology, iconic film, and most recently, "fine" art. Both mocking and celebrating popular culture, the Flagettes' photography presents an unruly, campy, and devoutly queer iconography.

The Flagettes' gallery show, "Only Flags: Fanning the Flames of Flagottry", is a retrospective of the Flaming Flagettes' calendar photographs  -- capturing joy, enthusiasm, radical politics, freak fashion, and queer chaos over four years of photography. It features enlarged prints of many of the calendar images, never previously available to the public, plus videos of virtual performances, and artifacts and ephemera from the group. 

The Flagettes' 2024 calendar has been released and are available. Be sure to follow their instagram page for information on how to order the calendar!


Photographers in the show: Leone Juliette, Aaron Richmond-Havel, Afasha Rabut, Colin Roberson, and Nick Shamblott