A large-scale work of public art — featuring a historic drag queen, a legendary gay costume designer and a pair of cross-dressing dancers from ancient Chinese opera — has been added to Providence, Rhode Island’s downtown at 40 Snow St., facing the city’s popular gay club the Dark Lady. The piece pays homage to the intersection of Chinese and gay histories, which literally share the same space in the neighborhood where the mural now stands.
Reports the Boston Globe:
Francis Renault became an internationally celebrated vaudeville “female impersonator” in the early 1930s, known for his dazzling soprano voice and his extensive wardrobe of women’s clothing adorned in crystals and feathers. Born in Naples, Italy, and raised in Providence, Renault would today be known as a drag queen and is lauded as a trailblazer for the often politicized profession.
Now, he and other important local figures are being memorialized in a massive new mural that honors two overlooked chapters of Providence’s history: the city’s lost Chinatown and the contributions of LGBTQ+ communities.
“This project felt like it was specifically invented for me,” said Lauren YS, the Los Angeles-based artist who painted the mural. “We’re on the street corner that used to house the Chinese Merchants Association, was Chinatown, and is now a queer neighborhood. That cross-section of identity is what I practice within.”
YS said they have worked on plenty of projects in Chinatowns across the United States, as well as painted murals in LGBTQ+ neighborhoods. “But never has it actually intersected,” they said.The 85-foot-wide mural is located at 40 Snow St., a building owned by Paolino Properties, and faces the Dark Lady, a storied gay nightclub that regularly hosts drag and dance parties. The Avenue Concept, a nonprofit arts organization responsible for many of Providence’s murals, worked with the city and Paolino Properties to hire YS for the commissioned piece.
Read the complete Boston Globe story here.
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