About Tyler
During lockdown we caught up with a dear friend, drag queen, designer and forever muse for CREASE.
We have both had the pleasure of knowing Tyler since university and have shared a wealth of memories and unusual times together. (Nothing like a traumatic university experience to bond you for life, ey!)
There is no end to Tylers talent, forever creating new innovative looks for his drag performances as Rosacea Blemish with no detail spared. We highly recommend you check her out at the Queen Adelaide every Friday & Saturday!
A deeply honest, fiercely sarcastic, kind and generous friend, Tyler has supported CREASE before it even came to be, encouraging us to follow this uncertain and often tricky path. It is no exaggeration to say Tyler has rushed to our aid and saved us on more than one occasion!
His ability to be unapologetically different and firm in his vision are only a few of the many things we admire of this creative soul and we are delighted to share his Bedroom Story with you all.
Q. Following our collection Titled ‘Comfort’, what does the word ‘comfort’ mean to you?
To feel completely safe to be who you are and how you want to be in a moment, that is what the word means to me. It’s a word that we know from a young age but, in my opinion and experience it’s only a feeling we get to know when we are certain of being uncomfortable, and this is a feeling in constant flux. As we grow up, comfortability will change dependant on the environments we are in. Being queer in today’s world often generates feeling of uncomfortableness, not with myself but knowing that a great portion of society like to oppress such freedom of expression. Anxiety and fear are all too rife in my community's daily life.
Q: What would you say brings you the most comfort and how?
For me it's rather materialistic, I like to be surrounded by the things I have gathered over the years. Although the walls are very slowly closing in, I am very much a nest builder, to create a space where I can live, entertain and indulge in. So I guess being at home is probably my main source of comfort, which may seem like an obvious answer but really it's not. I am lucky to be able to find this state of relaxation and safety in my home, as for many this is not the case.
Q: Tell us a little about your bedroom or personal space - What have you done to put your mark on it?
Having moved around a lot in the past 5 years I haven’t been able to adorn my walls as I would wish, but I’m working on that. I believe a bedroom reflects who a person is, even if you think it’s simply a space to sleep. The walls are covered in erotic art commissioned/created by queer artists, books are scattered, the laundry basket is forever overflowing, and the bed sheets are stained from skin products. I love to have my clothes exposed on rails in a bedroom, I think it adds great texture to a space without the need for excess furniture. That said, if I had the space then I’d have a chaise lounge.
Q: How do you feel most comfortable expressing yourself?
I’m still learning. Back when I was a dancer, the movement really helped with expressing myself, it was therapeutic. When I stopped dancing to pursue other avenues, I lost that gift and am yet to fully return to it. I have found a similar result with my costume and drag, although I find the process of these to be rather nerve racking, being a self-saboteur, it’s the outcome where I find the art of expression. Thinking about it, it’s not too different from the performance feeling from my dance background, although it is shorter lived. To keep moving lengthens the feeling of expression.
Q: What defines a space to you? And how is your home and surroundings currently feeling to you during this isolation period?
During isolation I was home with my husband and dog, right next to a forest, idyllic right? Being an introverted extrovert, being at home is not uncommon. Choosing to start drag at the time I did was unfortunate, with lockdown shutting down the night industry (and many others of course), and not being patient with social media enough to be doing any online gigs, or putting myself forward for such opportunities. I made progress pre-lockdown with getting my craft out there, which had to come to a halt. This started to cause damage to my mental health, perhaps the most immediate space we live in.
So although I had a beautiful, comfortable and supportive, physical environment to be in during lock-down, my brain was very busy with its self destructive negativity.
Q: Are there any elements of your bedroom that follow you into each space you inhabit?
There are a few treasures which tend to stick with me. More so for the emotional relevance or to remind me of people who I have not kept in contact with so much. For instance, an ornament of bottled sand, depicted a middle-eastern dessert, complete with a camel and my name, given to me by my high school friend, Mary. We had a rocky friendship, and this was my fault, I guess I keep the bottle close to remind me of her and how I could have been better to her in my teenage years. It’s also just a very beautiful piece, I like holiday trinkets.
Oh, and my teddy Rufus. He’s shelved for quite some time now but is always around.
Q: Isolation has been a strange and challenging time for many how are you getting through it?
I wouldn’t say I did anything special or had any secrets to keeping myself going, I just did, there wasn’t really much of an alternative. I have what I need and like around me so I just had to adapt to no longer having some luxuries in my life, which was perhaps needed. I was still having therapy during the first half of lockdown so I had that to lean on to help calm my bored and self destructive mind. I did find some comfort knowing that we were all, to some capacity, in the same situation.
Q: How important is sustainability in your day to day living? And do you think this has been made any easier since the lockdown?
Sustainability is something that I am trying to be better with, but I am already pretty conscious of my footprint. Lockdown definitely brought a level of thinking, in terms of locally sourcing, reducing waste and buying less; I honestly cannot fathom why people panic bought toilet roll in absurd (!) quantities. My husband and I got through lockdown on only 12 rolls, besides having the option of cleansing ourselves with a shower head.
Q: What are you doing during lockdown to say mentally motivated? New hobbies?
Mostly I was trying to give myself a break and gain acceptance of my sometimes slow, unmotivated work methods. I started a few new projects at the start of lockdown that I still haven’t finished. The work done here was mainly allowing my mind to stop stressing out over a feeling of having to produce work. I did try some home exercises but gave up, same with French, both were pretty inevitable to end up with no results though, however I already knew this and it was a nice distraction at the time. See how accepting I have become?
I did do a lot of cooking though and managed to gain a routine until I started to play FF7 remake.
Q: Many artists are feeling overwhelmed and uninspired during self isolation, how have you found this for your own creative process?
For sure, but I had similar feelings pre-lockdown also. There has always been a pressure to produce work quickly with the constant push of ‘success’ we see on social media, when lockdown started it got worse. People hellbent on using this new, extra time to learn many new things and (wrongfully) insist people be doing the same.
I tend to work better when I have a client or deadline set by someone else, as I’m a bit of a people pleaser. I work better and faster under such conditions, but with my work mainly based around social events, I had very little motivation. I have been taking my time on my own projects, labouring over little details and waiving over my perfectionism in places to ease my impatience, and the results are ones I am pleased with. Now I have work again I am hoping to pick up my production times.
Q: How did you come to start exploring the world of drag?
I guess it was going to happen one day. I come from a performance background, having been a contemporary dancer throughout my pre-uni school years. Combined with my love for fierce beauty, queerness and great, camp clothes, it appears my Venn diagram centres towards drag.
As a teenage emo kid I was very confident in blurring gender imagery and experimenting with make-up. I always used to steal my mother’s make-up from when she was a Virgin cosmetics rep. I was definitely a part of then as it is becoming again now. I draw confidence from it.
Q: Where do you generate your ideas for looks and what is the process behind creating a final look?
It differs, sometimes I will have an idea straight away that I pull straight from my head, or I’ll be inspired by other artists/performers. I mostly sketch out my designs first in a design spec sheets format, and it will end up as something different. Camp is word du jour when it comes to my taste, mixed in with some classic couture and modern runway notes. I try not to be too particular about the finish of the look, as I’m still learning I’m taking my stride in my mistakes and wonky flicks. Why not? Im calling it fucking charming. There’s nothing relatable than a mistake maker, so love me!
Q: Is there anything you have been doing in quarantine that you hope to continue into the future?
No, I’m moving on. Until it happens again.