Meet Porter Bella Graves

Today we’d like to introduce you to Porter Bella Graves.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Porter. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been a drag performer for a year. I look back at my start as a series of lucky coincidences but I think I would have ended up here somehow no matter what!

I’ve always loved the art of drag, even before I really knew what it was. Two years ago at a show, I met a performer who was also a cis woman. I probably asked her a hundred questions about drag that night. I was floored, I had never even heard of a female drag queen, I’d always wished I was able to do it, but I had no idea there was a place for me in the drag community.

A year later, through a mutual friend, I met a show host. I still wasn’t pursuing drag, I had kind of let it die as a dream that I never thought I’d have the nerve to chase. We started talking about makeup and drag and she asked if I’d ever considered performing, and then invited me to come spotlight at her show. Two weeks later, I was performing for the very first time. After my first night out in drag, I literally sobbed the entire way home. I was so afraid to put myself out there, I didn’t know what kind of reaction I would get; but, that first night, I received so much more support and encouragement than I could have dreamt of. My heart felt like it was going so explode.

Ever since that first night, I’ve completely immersed myself in drag. It was something that I didn’t realize I was missing at the time, but now couldn’t imagine my life without it.

It’s really amazing for me because I’ve always been an artist trapped in my own artist-block and couldn’t figure out why. After I discovered drag, I finally have a creative outlet that makes sense to me and I don’t feel stuck anymore.

Has it been a smooth road?
Things are hardly ever a smooth road, but I think loving something as much as I love drag makes it easier to get through the hard parts.

I think a pretty common struggle is finding balance. You want to be able to throw yourself in head first and do everything you can to start getting bookings and keep them consistent and continue growing as an artist. But the reality is, drag can be incredibly expensive, and most of us work full time outside of our drag careers, and unfortunately, you still need to make time to sleep.

I’m currently doing a weekly competition at Sue Ellen’s called The Queer Off. It’s an amazing and inclusive competition hosted by Kylee O’Hara Fatale, and it’s been so much fun competing against so many talented performers. Drag is a lot of work though, and this show is definitely designed to make you push yourself as an artist! I’ve found myself on many days of little to no sleep, between creating new content for this show, other shows, and balancing work, etc. But there isn’t one second that I regret the amount of work I put into my drag. It’s always challenging trying to find success in a new industry, but I do believe hard work pays off, so I want to continue to push as hard as I can.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Porter Bella story. Tell us more about the business.
My goal is to put out work that I’m proud of. As performers, I think we all have essentially the same goal and that is to put on an amazing show.

Drag is a combination of so many different art forms. You really have so much freedom in who you want to be, what kind of performances you want to put out, what your character’s aesthetic is- you are creating every bit of it. There are no boxes or limitations, and I think that’s the most fun part. My character does a lot of comedy. I love to create ridiculous mixes, a lot of them are based on movie/tv references so I can bring a character that we all know to life in my own way.

And I love creating looks that are outside of what you’d expect to see. There are endless possibilities when it comes to what you can do with makeup. I want to keep pushing what I can do with it!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Drag is something that is changing and growing daily. Something I do expect and hope to see in the future is more AFAB performers and more acceptance toward all types of performers.

Just like me a couple of years ago, so many people don’t realize what drag really is now. The drag community itself is very open and accepting of all performers. I’d love to see everyone become more open to the idea of trans/nb/afab performers. Drag is not this old idea of men dressing as women, its performance art that includes everyone. I’d love to get to the point where when I say I’m a drag queen, it doesn’t have to come along with, “But you’re a girl, so how does that work?” And I’d love for young girls out there, who also like me, dream of doing drag, to know that there is a place for them to pursue that dream.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @itsporterbella
• Twitter: @itsporterbella

Image Credit:
Photo by Jay Fuertez

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