Like so many queer folks raised in conservative towns, Tanner Abel was lured to New York in hopes of experiencing firsthand the LGBTQ liberation this city has fostered across decades. The rising photographer, who's currently working towards his BFA at Parsons, studied the glorified Studio 54 era and tumultuous club kid height, using this research to capture today's queer community through a timeless, informed lens.

Abel's new series Persona, aims to monumentalize LGBTQ nightlife stars, who're often treated as extras in the context of fashion and entertainment. In his studio, these individuals are the main focus, and they're presented in ways that both celebrate and dramatize their personalities. He's recruited Drag Race sensations Aja and Aquaria, as well as costume designer Hana Quist; NYC nightlife fixations Linux and Kyle Farmery, and Brooklyn's rising queen West Dakota also get Abel's stylized treatment.

PAPER caught up with Abel to break down Persona, and the importance of making visible queer art in 2018.

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What was the intention behind this body of work? Historically, the fashion industry and pop culture at large tend to incessantly borrow ideas from underground queer fixtures of New York City, while simultaneously treating them as extras. My work dignifies them as the stars. The intention is really to generate iconic imagery that monumentalizes queer creatives. My images celebrate non-binary and alternative gender expression, featuring subjects who possess an intangible superstar quality that has the ability to transcend outdated notions of beauty. What was the collaboration process like with each subject? Did you allow them to have some input in how they were presented? Through the series I work with each muse to elaborate on my vision of them, often exaggerating their prominent features and using visual language including precisely chosen pop culture and art references to assert their individuality. Most of the time I approach the subjects with the idea and try to amplify how I view their style into something even bigger. The subjects do always have the power to be in charge of what exactly they wear and how they present themselves though. For example, Linux is known for wearing these big, abstract shaped garments and they often remind me of Joan Miró's work, so she made a garment with that inspiration in mind and we transformed her into one of his paintings. Sometimes the aesthetics and references are based simply off the garment or an experience I had of them. For Aja, who is the first queen I saw perform when I moved to New York City, my images of her are about capturing my experience of her incredible performance. The sultry gaze, excessive rhinestones, feathers, and red color scheme in one of her frames for PERSONA represent the seduction of my experience being exposed to the performance of drag in real life. This image doesn't attempt to recreate an exact artwork, but is a visual manifestation of my experience of her. Related | Aquaria: The Unreal Housewife of New York