A natural born artist raised outside the pop culture bubble who flew directly into the flame of Brooklyn nightlife, Ezra Moth is now a BNA nominee! [Cover photo: Untitled Queen]
Thotyssey: Hi Ezra, how is your Halloween Month so far? Do you have festive looks planned for the end of the month?
Ezra Moth: October is always the most chaotic month of the year for me. I’m getting commissioned to make countless costumes, producing shows and performing. Being busy with art is pretty rad, though. I’m a big fan of classic Halloween costumes, so I’ve got a few planned for myself: a ghost, a demon, and a vampire.
Do you consider your aesthetic, both drag and otherwise, to be rooted in some sort of spookiness?
While I wouldn’t consider myself a horror queen, I do think there is something gloomy about my aesthetic. I’m inspired by strange and mysterious parts of nature–abyssal creatures and cosmic phenomena. My drag performances lean into the melancholy and tragic as well (I’m a terrible comedian).
Can you share a bit of your origin story with us?
I was homeschooled on a farm in Connecticut–very religious and very isolated, so my references aren’t really from pop culture. I didn’t have much access to art or music as a kid. Eventually I went to college and studied environmental engineering and sculpture. Lots of my inspiration comes from biology and mythology. Nature, and the stories that we’ve told across time to explain it, is the source of my imagination.
Do you have any special affinity for the moth?
Yes! She’s like the ugly nocturnal sister of the butterfly. Everyone loves butterflies. But the moth is a misunderstood creature of the night, a being of overlooked elegance, and I relate to that.
How did you come to find yourself amongst the nocturnals of Brooklyn?
I moved here from London after the pandemic. That’s also when I started drag. Meeting my friends, collaborators and peers in nightlife happened organically from participating in the alt-drag open sets that were happening at Purgatory, All Night Skate, and C’mon Everybody. Shows like Untitled Queen’s Art Star and the Mx. Nobody pageant offered platforms for the weirdest and most radical of performances. They were also the stages where I felt the most inspired and the most understood.
Do you often draw or paint possible drag looks on paper before trying them out on your person?
All the time. On my IG, I draw these “makeup maps” for future looks; I’ve a sketchbook full of ideas. And I create almost all my costumes myself. I love making things with my hands: props, gowns, puppets. A lot of my ideas start as impossibilities: coming on stage in a sphere of water, or a gown made of starlight. The fun part is figuring out how to make something like that exist with 10 dollars and some hot glue.
Art Star is wrapping up it’s current cycle right now! What was your exact experience like competing in that?
Art Star is a competition different from any pageant, focusing on concept and originality, judged by people I quite admire, with an art school critique format. I wanted to present something larger than life, something personal, and nature-inspired. I’m quite proud of what I created on that stage: a storytelling performance about mothers and queer childhood, told from the perspective of a deep sea mer-creature. I didn’t actually do well in the competition! But it definitely set the tone for the kinds of performances I would create in the future… and perhaps more importantly, I made so many friends that I would end up collaborating with in the future
Sea drag is a whole genre! Congrats on your Brooklyn Nightlife Award nomination for Best Visual Artist! How happy are you, and are you familiar with fellow nominees in your category?
Thank you! I was shocked and honored. I’m not the most outgoing entity in nightlife, which is why it was such a surprise. I perform only when the moment feels right, and oftentimes I’m more introverted and working solo in my studio. I think of myself as a visual artist in nightlife, but I didn’t think anyone else considered me that way. It was so validating to see that other people were understanding my work, and it was humbling to be nominated alongside such titans. I’m familiar with everyone in my category, and good friends with half of them. Seeing that makes me feel like I’m in the right place at the right time.
You’re returning to C’mon Everybody on Sunday for a show you’re co-producing with Maljo Blu called “Wailing Women,” which is described as a performance “on feminine grief and rage.” Can you tell us more about this?
Very simply, I wanted to create a space for sad drag. Maljo is someone I’ve been inspired by since I met them when I first started performing, at the Mx. Nobody pageant! She’s a multivalent talent–a dancer and comedian–but also a tectonic, artistic force. I knew she would have ideas and performers in mind, and we created Wailing Women where drag artists can experiment with more serious themes: slow, contemplative, traumatic, or personal. There are so many shows that demand high energy stunts and Top 40 hits, but I knew the Brooklyn performers craved a stage to work through their more somber emotions. Feminine grief and rage feels like an apt theme in a world where violence against women is pervasive, ongoing, and systemically unacknowledged. Wailing Women is where artists release pain, and where the audience gets to share in their collective catharsis.
Then on October 23rd, you’ll be part of a cast of drag performers and puppeteers for The New Flesh at Red Eye! What’s this gonna be like?
Vape Kid Jr., who produces The New Flesh, is also a co-conspirator from the Mx. Nobody pageant! I love making things, I love stage magic and otherworldly creatures, and the veer into making puppets felt natural to me. Vape Kid kind of rules the drag puppetry scene in my neck of the woods, and I’ll take every opportunity I get to collab with him. New Flesh combines body horror, SFX makeup and puppetry into a grotesque experience of transformation: perfect for the Halloween season. And I’m working on a new puppet for this upcoming show!
What else is coming up for you?
I’m always messing around with new ideas, including puppets and costumes for Tiresias‘ New Weird Future, a speculative eco-opera at La Mama, November 12-15. Also working on an art exhibition on dysphoria, and a drag fashion photo project in December. Keep an eye out, and come to all the shows!
And finally, tiz the season: what’s your favorite horror movie?
I’m a sucker for glamour and tragedy alongside my horror. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is my favorite horror movie.
Thanks, Ezra!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Ezra Moth’s upcoming appearances, and follow them on Instagram.
