MATHILDE AGIUS: MADAME

Madame is a series of portraits produced between 2024 and 2025 by photographer Mathilde Agius.This chapter was developed in the cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chongqing, and Chengdu. It documents the local drag scenes and features imaginary worlds situated between contemporary China and Euro-American pop aesthetics. The practice of drag, combining subversion, spectacle, and satire, offers a lens through which current dynamics can be read. On stage, drag queens appear both exposed and concealed: beneath layers of makeup and accessories, their characters become vectors of implicit narratives. They speak to the pressures, strategies of evasion, and vulnerabilities inherent to queer creation while reflecting an ironic and critical image of both Chinese and global society.