Dorian, A Cinematic Perfume2009

"Dorian, a cinematic perfume" is based on Oscar Wilde’s 19th century novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and its themes of decadence, narcissism and the meaning of art. I have interpreted the story and it’s queer undertones by casting Dorian as a young woman discovered by a fashion photographer, then catapulted into the world of empty celebrity. She falls under the tutelage of a famous drag queen and becomes a nightclub luminary, constantly followed by the paparazzi. These media images become the infamous portrait, grotesquely mutating as she grows more beautiful and famous, culminating in her own narcissistic destruction.

Like the films of Warhol and Godard, that blur the lines between performance and reality, all of the performers in Dorian are playing some version of themselves. Sequinette (Dorian) is a gender-bending drag impresario; Armen Ra (Lord H) is a renowned Theremin player; K8 Hardy (Sybl Vain) is a performance artist and co-creator of the queer art collective LTTR; Quin Charity (Basil) is a media artist and Flawless Sabrina (Dead Dorian) is a drag legend. This project exists as both a single channel film and a 4-channel installation.