‘Queens of Queen City’: Artist Talk and Exhibition Opening Event

Join documentary photographer and Pulitzer Center grantee Michael O. Snyder for an artist talk and panel conversation focused on his Queens of Queen City exhibition and reporting project.

Snyder teamed up with writer and fellow grantee Rae Garringer in the Pulitzer Center-supported project examining what drag culture means for the legacy (and the future) of the LGBTQ+ community in a struggling Appalachian community. 

For the artist talk, Snyder will speak about the making of the project and answer audience questions. He will then join the panel “Queer Life and Drag Culture in Appalachia Today'' with community members, including drag queen performers Christian Diane and Mary Jane LaFay, along with queer community elder Greg Malloy. Cumberland Pride organizer Heidi Gardner will moderate the discussion.

Their conversations will lead into the exhibition’s opening event at the gallery featuring performances by drag queens Mary Jane LaFay, Christian Diane, Aradia LaFay, and Maxine Young.

This exhibit is possible through the support of the Pulitzer Center, the Virginia Quarterly Review, the Allegany Arts Council, printing from Digital Silver Imaging, and Cumberland Pride. The Queen City project was a finalist for the LensCulture Portrait Awards and received honorable mentions from the ZEKE Award for Documentary Photography and the Julia Margaret Cameron Award.

To learn more about the exhibition and the artist, visit the Allegany Arts Council’s website.