Mattress @mattressmua

“My name is Mattress and I’m a non binary Drag queen based here in Leeds. My journey as a queer person has been a long and winding one, but the best part of it has been the queer family and community that I have found along the way. As well as a Drag queen, I am a Latin dancer, which is a world away and presents its own challenges to me as a non binary person, who is trying to navigate the more traditional and much more rigidly enforced gender stereotypes.

Whilst I have always been surrounded by queer people and creatives, it wasn’t until I got to university where I started my exploration of my own gender. Living with a trans woman during Covid opened my eyes to a whole world of gender diversity. This is something that I then had the opportunity to study and investigate further through my uni work. It is through fashion and self expression that I feel my most authentic, especially when that expression has influences of the showgirls, and powerful, glamorous women who raised me.”