As part of a series of workshops in collaboration with Princeton University’s LGBT center during the pandemic, I developed a project, Snap the Drag, to engage students with the complex function of drag culture in LGBTQ+ history, by using augmented reality to experiment with radical forms of self- expression.

During spring break, students were invited to work with visiting speakers and faculty across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, with the aim of providing a safe space for culturally relevant experiments in XR technology. Invited speaker Shaka McGlotten, Professor of Media Studies and Anthropology at Purchase College- SUNY, collaborated as a visiting lecturer for this workshop, in the Spring of 2021.

Snap the Drag both innovated with and parodied the contemporary use of augmented reality filters; questioning how AR relates to the history of drag through the mainstreaming of experimental forms of self-expression- often originating in LGBTQ+ history- and what these conversations may mean for the advancement, or further marginalization- of LGBTQ+ communities.