It’s 2054, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 547 is starting tonight. You hear the opening credits and the mini challenge begins. The camera work predicts who will sashay away and the pit crew are graying, but still kind of hot. If this drag is all you know, it’s time to start paying attention to your local scene. Enter the Haus of Heart, a drag family like no other. GayIceland sits down with matriarch Lola Von Heart and her daughter Chardonnay Bublée to find out more about one of Iceland’s most dynamic drag families. A family that also includes Chardonnay’s drag king husband Milo de Mix and their daughter Úlla la Delish.
Their mission?
”Being a loving support for one another and a source of joy, comedy and art within the drag scene.”
“We have one rule: to only do things that bring us and others joy. The future for the Hearts, therefore, lies in queer joy and continuing to contribute positive energy throughout the drag and fringe scene of Reyjavík.”
This group of performance artists met each other through Iceland’s drag scene, building a strong friendship and later a family. In a nod to the ballroom scene and motif of chosen family within queer circles the group, headed up by Matriarch Lola Von Heart, declared themselves the Haus of Heart.
Chardonnay: “I started drag at Drag LAB, an experimental drag show for new performers in 2018. I wanted a platform where I could express myself, my views and experiences, and explore my performance skills.
One of the benefits of starting drag was the connection it gave me to the queer scene that I had often felt like I was not queer enough for, being bisexual this is something that a lot of us experience. Drag gave me a space to play around with my gender, sexuality and expression.”
“Drag gave me a space to play around with my gender, sexuality and expression.”
For Lola, her start in drag came from a friendly push by a local drag king.
“I started doing drag in 2017 after I was given a friendly push from a drag king, BoyToy Tony, who had just started the show Drag LAB. I started because I wanted to combine multiple talents like makeup, costume design, stage performance and of course it was a new form of self expression.
It was supposed to be a one time thing but quickly turned into much more, and I haven’t looked back since.”
The Haus of Heart is unique, mostly a non cis male drag group with a drag king, queens and a self professed “pansexual rockstar gender queer/ambiguous glamour queen” in their matriarch Lola. Lola, was one of the first AFAB (assigned female at birth) queens to take up space in the drag scene. Before that women had mostly taken part as kings. Due to heightened visibility of cis white gay men within international drag and film and television, you could be forgiven for thinking the majority of queens are men.
Lola explains: “Our group consists of three women and one boy but drag isn’t really related to the gender you were born as, drag transcends gender and we reject the ideas of the binary and like to colour outside the lines.”
Chardonnay: “Women and non-binary people are a majority in the heart of the drag and cabaret scene. However, it seems that for larger events and corporate gigs the mic is often passed to the cis, gay men who are drag queens. This is no fault of these queens, but simply due to the fact that the general public has not been exposed to the possibility of other options.
The sad fact is that although many people claim to be huge drag fans, they have only ever seen it on RuPaul’s Drag Race and aren’t even aware of their vibrant local scene.”
The Haus of Heart live and breathe drag, Lola and Chardonnay attribute their fascination with drag as an art form with freedom, self expression and the ability to take control of queer narratives.
Lola: “Drag is a completely open art form where all kinds of expression is allowed and encouraged. It makes you take on a new identity and character that you can play with to your own rules and desires.”
“It’s never the same show twice. We aim to bring our audiences something fresh, new, and stupid each time.”
Chardonnay: “I think it’s so important to have a medium that can show queer joy because popular media tends to only create stories about the tragic parts of queerness.
I think what makes people love drag is also what makes other people fear it, drag performers are unapologetically expressing gender and experiences in a way that challenges our views on stereotypes and norms.”
Haus of Heart runs a monthly show, Heart Attack, at Kiki in Reykjavík. Their next shows are on 11 February and 11 March.
Chardonnay: “It’s never the same show twice. We aim to bring our audiences something fresh, new, and stupid each time.
We bring in guests to our shows and we especially want to uplift drag kings, because we love them so much and they deserve more attention!”
For more details check out the groups next upcoming event here.
@itschardonnaybublee
@lolavonheart
@milodemix
@ullaladelish
