One bright spring day, the photographer Damien Frost arrived at a farm in Gungal, outside Muswellbrook, New South Wales. Goats grazed in a paddock, eucalyptus trees stretched into the brilliant blue sky and a tin shed weathered in the sun. Frost walked into the shed and entered another world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a drag studio,\u201d says Frost. Lining the walls were dozens of wigs and rails of flamboyant outfits belonging to Beverly Fabulosity. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like it. It was a very Priscilla scenario.\u201d <\/p>\n
Frost grew up in Australia and is now based in London, where for more than a decade he has photographed drag queens and club kids for his acclaimed Night Flowers series. Since late August, he has been back in his home country, commissioned by Newcastle\u2019s New Annual festival<\/a> to photograph night owls in and around the city. These new portraits are being exhibited alongside a selection from Frost\u2019s archive at Watt Space gallery as part of the festival.<\/p>\n Luke Harris, Blacks Club, Soho.Julius Reuben, Soho, 2017.Marco Tullio Siviglia, Berlin, 2019. Otamere wearing Muriel Nisse, Hackney, 2018. Photograph: Damien Frost<\/p>\n The exhibition is a full-circle moment for Frost, who studied at the University of Newcastle after growing up in Sydney. Returning to Australia has inspired a change in his approach: in London, he meets and photographs his subjects in or around clubs, although his portraits appear so meticulously staged that viewers often assume they were taken in a studio. \u201cComing back to my home country, I wanted to show a little bit of the environment these people are working in,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n