“I have two giant black things headed towards my face,” Misscarriage, the Aussie drag queen played by artist Tayte Hanson, said into the mic as both Brita Filter and Terra Hymen offered him their microphones during the Q&A at Friday night’s Lady Liberty drag competition in New York City. “This has happened to me before! Go watch that video online; plugs for days.” Flashing a winning smile, she adjusted her legs, which had become the subject of Brita Filter’s fixation earlier in the night, in her seat and plunged into answering her question.
Porn star Tayte Hanson as drag persona Misscarriage, wearing a look by Peroxide Femanon at the Lady Liberty drag competition. (Photo by WilsonModels)
It was a small moment but a telling one. The ability to react on the fly, insert a sly, off-color remark, and make it all a performance, is a hallmark of drag — good drag, that is. And Hanson wants to be the best. “I’m super competitive,” Hanson told PRIDE a few hours before the competition as she was painting on the night’s look. “I crave a dopamine rush. When I start something, I will give it 400 percent because I want to be the best. And then when I’m the best, I’m over it.” And with a résumé that includes a pretty glowing (and ongoing) career as a porn star, a professional dancer, a chef, and a photographer, drag is only the latest chapter.
Tayte Hanson in a self portrait. (Photo by Tayte Hanson)
Hanson is made to adapt. That’s clear when the 27-year-old starts to describe his drag character, Misscarriage,and drops into a strong Australian accent, likely by accident, cultivated through years of working with the Melbourne-based dance company Strange Fruit. It’s clear again as he gets ready for his sets, tweaking and changing looks, accommodating for plans gone awry and time constraints in seconds. Even his physicality makes it clear, as he had dropped about 20 pounds in two weeks for an upcoming dance gig, leading into the Lady Liberty competition. But it’s all a product of quite a wide expanse of knowledge.
Born in Roswell, N.M., Hanson graduated college with three degrees. “I actually had to sneak and do it,” he said, stopping his makeup application to look at me. It makes you feel engaged to have someone pause to look at you almost every time they speak. “They don’t like when you dual enroll.” But he did it.
Currently based in New York City, Hanson dual enrolled in college. (Photo by Tayte Hanson)
Hanson still leans on those degrees in architecture, dance, and culinary arts, as he has ever since earning them. When he first got to New York, he used his culinary arts degree to teach in order to make money. He still uses it today to cook for himself and boyfriends. His dance degree has been important, as he has danced in companies all over the world. At one point he even helped choreograph a concert on Madonna's Rebel Heart tour. The architecture degree is getting more and more use now, since as of a year ago, Hanson began to pursue a career as a photographer, something the architecture knowledge informs.
“It became something that I liked that paid money,” Hanson said of how his photography came about. “I think that’s how success is created — finding something you enjoy and then turning that into something that makes money.” That photography money comes in from a variety of sources, including fashion imagery and portraits. While the full scope of that is viewable on Hanson’s website, the most salacious and gay-themed photos usually find their way onto his Instagram and are usually among his favorites.
A shot from Hanson’s intimate photo series Anonymous 52. (Photo by Tayte Hanson)
“Intimate portraiture is what I like to shoot,” he admitted. “Anonymous 52 is a new series I’m doing. Shooting, as a fly on the wall, couples' most intimate moments.” That series is the continuation and a product of photography that Hanson had been pursuing for a while. He has shot his own intimate moments in a series that includes shots with his own lovers in an unreleased gallery that he said was about the essence of those moments.
“I don’t know if those ever will come out,” he said. “There’s something in the back of my head that wants to keep them private and intimate for myself but there’s another part of me that’s so open with the world that I feel it’s a necessity to release.” But for now he’s focusing on drag.
A shot from Hanson’s intimate photo series Anonymous 52. (Photo by Tayte Hanson)
“The porn side is basically the same as the drag side, but instead of putting your dick in someone else's ass and perform, you put your own dick in your ass,” Hanson laughed, referring to a drag queen’s tuck. His porn career, which started as a CockyBoy exclusive, has seen him use the platform he’s garnered from films to advocate for safe sex. But his drag focuses on creating an entirely different persona.
“The reason that I use prosthetics in my drag is because I’m not trying to impersonate a woman,” Hanson said. For the Lady Liberty competition Friday, the prosthetic of choice was a pig snout, worn throughout the night. “I just want to be a different version of whatever it is I’m trying to express, not necessarily a woman.”
Misscarriage performing for the talent portion of the Lady Liberty drag competition. (Photo by WilsonModels)
The snout got its creative due during the talent portion of the competition when Misscarriage performed to Lady Gaga’s track “Swine.” Pulling a friend onto stage, Misscarriage filled his mouth with an apple, laid him down onto his back, poured vegetables all over his shirtless body, and ate it off. The only thing to top it? Sitting on his face for the segment’s end.
It was a standout moment for the night, making Misscarriage a shoo-in for the top two. But with that position cinched, it was during the final lip-synch competition that things took a turn.
Competing against Sullivan, a local look queen, Misscarriage brought the crowd to their feet when she stepped out of a negligee revealing a bedazzled thong and lingerie set. Ass out, she flew up and down the middle aisle, playing to the crowd. Sullivan was largely forgotten. But in the last minute of the lip-synch, Egypt, a competitor who hadn't made it into the final two, took to the stage in an attempt to usurp the spotlight. The crowd was riotous.
Drag queen Egypt attempts a mid-performance coup of Misscarriage’s spotlight. Opponent Sullivan walks away in the background. (Photo by WilsonModels)
Not to be outdone, center stage, Misscarriage grabbed Egypt’s waist, trying to lift her. The struggle between the two was almost imperceptible, and then Missccarriage rolled into a backflip, disengaging from the failed attempt with as much showmanship possible. Adapting. Hanson’s words were easy to remember.
"I have to win."
And that she did.
