Any drag queens 'lowed in? Corner Brook artist connects drag and mummers

It's easy to get lost among the adjectives whiletrying to sum up Lucas Morneau's body of work, The Queer Mummer,on display now at the Grenfell Art Gallery in Corner Brook.

It's funny, campy and unsettling all at once to breeze through the personas inhis large-scale photographsthat combine specific Newfoundland and Labrador references with pop culture, witha heavy dollop of drag and blue eyeshadow on top.

"They have different personalities. Some a lot more strict than others, some a lot more foolish," said Morneau.

In one, Morneau is dressed as asevere-looking leather-corseted mummer, with an Annie Lennox haircut and unstylish Crocs. Another mummer, Inky Twinky,is part giant squid, part Ursula from The Little Mermaid, dribbling a blue streak from its androgynous, otherworldly chin.

"The exhibition, for me, is more or less about challenging gender norms," said Morneau.

For Morneau, mummering was the perfect way to explore that, a gender bending tradition that existed long before RuPaul'sDrag Race. With The Queer Mummer, he blends the two in a way he hopes has people asking questions after leaving thegallery.

"I wanted to point out that, if you had this negative view of drag, but have mummered before, you are performing in drag," said Morneau.

'Art is autobiographical'

Morneau started marrying mummers and drag inhis art practicewhile in a master's program at the University of Saskatchewan.

There, he got involved in the Saskatoondrag scene,and one day he decided tomake a mask for one of his stage personas.

"Halfway through the mask, Ikind of was thinking,oh, this looks like something a mummer would wear. And then the cogs started to turn," he said.

From there, The Queer Mummer arose, drawing fromthe mask-making skills and themes he began developing during his undergraduate degree at Grenfell Campus.

"For me, the mask was always important, or veiling," he said.

Morneaufiltering his art practice through his experiencea gay student in his hometown of Corner Brook, where he said he sometimes felt he had to camouflage parts of himself to get by.

"Iwas dealing with issuesof having to hide part of my identity, and put up these masks to perform to people," he said.

"I'm a person that believes that no matter what, art is autobiographical."

More mummers to come

The Queer Mummer both hides Morneau under layers of handmade costumesand is at the same time unapologetically vibrant.

The photographs hang slightly above eye level, so each mummer peers down on people walking by withexaggerated faces. If there is an award in the art world for expressions, Morneau should win it.

While he does want to cast mummering in a new light, he also hopes gallery goersenjoy its tongue-in-cheek tone Bay Thangwears a distinctly 90s windbreaker and enjoy the work as much as someone might enjoy a traditional mummer dropping in at their house unannounced.

"Ithink humour is one of those things that really connects everyone, and so that's one of the reasons why Iwent towards that route," he said.

Morneau has more mummering ideas, including large photographs of several mummers in a scene, as opposed to his current solo mummer works. He'll also be performing at St. John's contemporary art festival Hold Fast in September.

The Queer Mummer is up at the Grenfell Art Gallery until August 2.

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