Journal

My first impression on meeting Mark was that he was very professional and a general guy. I do remember that one of the first things he said to me was that he was going to apologise to me there and then. He said he was very blunt, which he felt he needed to be in order to do his job. I was unsure whether this was professionalism taking over or the fact that Mark lacks confidence behind the scenes which added a level of intrigue and sadness to his drag queen performance.

Mark sat on a chair at a table that had a white dressing table mirror with lights around the edge in front of him. Surrounding him was a selection of makeup, his drink and other personal items. The floor beside him had his suitcase with his costume and other items in it so he could achieve his desired look. Seeing and capturing the transition from Mark to Cherie was incredible, he was so precise with the look he wanted to achieve. This was from the application of makeup to the clothes he wore to make Cheri come alive into character. Donna who was Marks friend and manager was also present she helped him with emotional support, time checks, costume and trying to keep things in order. The whole transition process took about an hour.

There was a moment when Mark was transitioning into Cheri that I noticed a spark in his eye that intrigued me, capturing this the only thing I could think of was that Mark felt so alive. Going into the room to do his performance as Cheri he was so upbeat and excited like a kid with a bottle of pop. As he entered the room you could see that he had already read the audience and knew who his targets were, as it was they played along. Mark knew his set so well that when the microphone and music had a technical issue and cut out, he continued to do his performance in such a way that the audience believed it was all part of the act. This made me realise what a true professional he really was. When the performance had finished i followed Mark back to the room where he transitioned into Cherie. At one moment I remember saying how amazing the performance was, but there was no response, in fact, a deadly silence. The walking tall, confident Cherie had changed and become totally deflated as if the spark had died away.

During unrecorded private conversation s Mark told me that he felt during his performance he was loved. This meant a lot to him as he had a difficult childhood. The adoration of his audience represents the love he lost as a child. All of this was something I felt I needed to be recorded to give depth and context to the photographs.

The interview video was interesting and showed me that Mark and Cheri are two different people, whilst at the same time they are the same. Mark and Cheri have different personalities but they are two sides of the same person. Mark showed that he was able to move from one person to the other as the need arose. The video also contained other guest speakers, including Marks’s stage manager Donna and also Charlie and Martin who accompanied me on the trip. Charlie and Martin helped to keep my interview on track if I became tongue-tied or unclear. Charlie was particularly helpful in this area because Mark and Charlie are both from Liverpool and he felt more comfortable talking to Charlie than to me because of this. I was also quite hesitant, being afraid that I would say the wrong thing.