“Does she also accept gifts?” Asks a fan in the organization of Asian Pride in turn. Rupaul’s Drag Racein The Social Hub thanks to her mega brackets above everyone.
During the Canal Parade this Saturday, Wind is on the boat of Asian Pride. It has been around since 2022, says John Tjong Tjin Joe, one of the organizers. “We started to increase the visibility of the Asian community in the Netherlands.” According to him, the boat is intended for awareness of the problems of LGBTI people in Asia, but also of anti-Asian racism in the Netherlands and within the queer community itself. One in three Asian Dutch people sometimes experiences discrimination, last year research from the University of Amsterdam and Fontys Hogeschool in Tilburg.
After a year of trouble, Asian Pride Nymphia Wind (30) managed to tie. She fits in perfectly with the objective of the organization. As the first East Asian winner of Rupaul’s Drag Race she makes an important contribution to the visibility of Asian LGBTI people in the West. She was born in the United States, grew up in Taiwan, and moved in 2022 for her participation in the show to New York.
Taiwan is known as LGBTI-friendly, the country was the first in the region in the region between people of the same sex in 2019. Wind could come to Pride Amsterdam thanks to money from the Taiwanese government. Her presence is therefore in favor of Taiwan, according to organizer Tjong Tjin Joe. He calls Wind “a true ambassador” for the country.
While the volunteers are busy preparing for the Meet-and-Greet-Bananengoodiebags in the right place, Bubble Tea cups in neat rows-Wind answers some questions.
You have made your theme color from Geel and use bananas as a symbol in your act. Two things that are sometimes negatively linked to Asian people, but nowadays they are made to something positive again. What does it mean for you?
“It mainly started as a joke. Around 2020 I decided to go out completely dressed in yellow and myself ‘Banana’, and that stuck. It is nice to collect such a cult around you, in a theme. That is how I have become ‘Banana Buddha’: so it is certainly a reference to my Asian roots.”
You also use many Asian elements in your costumes and performances. Why do you do that?
“I think Taiwanese can glorify the West, because we equate it to free, and Asian culture as oppressed. But that is not the whole story. Taiwanese tend to overlook what we have.
“That is why I incorporate Taiwanese natural and cultural elements in my outfits. I get inspiration from Beijing-Opera, or indigenous influences. In an episode of Racing I presented myself as a cloud goddess, with elements of Taiwanese indigenous animal species, such as the Formosian leopard and the Mikado pheasant.
You started drag in the United Kingdom, when you did the fashion academy there.
“I grew up in Taiwan and Hong Kong. I already did cross-dressingthat transformation had something magical for me. In the UK, I really got to know Drag through the British nightlife as it is done in the West. I started to appreciate freedom that heavy makeup can offer you, you can create a new identity. ”
Was that possibility not in Taiwan?
“The scene in Taipei [de hoofdstad] Was when I started drag very small. That while Asia knows forms of drag: Japanese geishas actually also do drag. In the meantime, the scene in Taiwan is very lively, but with a clear influence from the United States, with emphasis on the nightlife.
Why do you find it important that there is more representation of Asian cultures in the West?
“When I was young, I didn’t like to look asian. I got a lot of American media in Taiwan, and with that the message that white is better, with all those Western faces. I still have that a bit, in my private life. I still work on that self -acceptance.
“We keep silent because our cultures put more emphasis on restraint, embarrassment. But we can’t change anything about the lack of representation in the West. That is why it is important that we crawl out of our shell and show the lace of Asian cultures that we are proud of.”
In The Social Hub there is now a DJ for a group of dancing people in cowboy hats. But the documentaries that Asian Pride show today are just as well visited.
How do you find that things are being organized during Pride that are not just about parties?
“I think it is very good if there is more room for shy people to also participate in Pride, people who may not like clubben so much. My drag persona represents my extrovert side, but I am also more a combination of introvert and extrovert.
“It is also good to do more than parties during Pride. In one of the documentaries this screening, SotongI saw that in Malaysia cross-dressing is illegal and gay are punishable. That makes me all the more grateful that I can do drag, but it also makes me realize that the battle is not over yet. ”
The theme of Amsterdam Pride is Love. Asian Pride uses it as an opportunity to draw attention to the opening of the marriage; In many Asian countries, people of the same sex cannot get married. During the Canal Parade, the 22 volunteers of Asian Pride go on the boat in wedding clothes in accordance with their own cultural background, with, for example, Chinese, Malaysian or Indonesian robes. Nymphia Wind is dressed as a wedding bouquet on Saturday.
Read also
Taiwan celebrates Pride on a large scale, but not without resistance