Ardelle Schneider: Butterflies and Caterpillars

Ardelle Schneider is a young photographer who is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Photography at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. She has exhibited her work widely in Germany, mainly in Düsseldorf, and in 2020 she was shortlisted for the Kassel Dummy Award — the prestigious international competition for best unpublished photo book.

Her body of work Butterflies and Caterpillars takes a closely intimate look at the contemporary drag scene in the United States. It’s a photographic examination that looks at the notions of identity and how we construct the self in a space different from society’s pre-established gender-specific roles and expectations.

Over a long period of time, the protagonists were accompanied in their everyday life and photographed in private moments as well as during their performances. In addition to the act of transformation, the duality of man, which is determined by the image of self-design and the image of the outside, is addressed. Does clothing change our behavior and how much does it reveal something from the inside out? How does outward appearance affect how we appear to others? What is behind all the layers? The medium of photography served as a means of revealing the intricacies of the characters hidden behind the loud masque.

A clarification which I believe is very much needed is that we are looking at drag queens here - mainly men who enjoy dressing up and acting like the opposite gender. There’s a misconception that all drag queens are gay by default, but this is erroneous and could be hugely damaging — sexuality and gender expression are two different aspects of a person’s personality and they should not be interlinked. There are many married men with children who enjoy the masquerade and fun of donning high heels and putting on some outrageous makeup every now and then.

Schneider’s project bears a resemblance to Nan Goldin’s drag queens with some notable differences — it’s easy to spot that Butterflies and Caterpillars is more contemporary as soon as we see the sassy blond queen holding an iPhone. Other images, however, are more obscure and could have been taken at any time, especially the ones bathed in red light or the black and white blurry photographs. The latter reminds us of Diane Arbus's famous photograph of Prudence Peiffer. It is clear that the photographer had really taken her time to become entrenched in this community and earn the performers’ trust — had she not done so, it would have easily reflected in the images that they were taken during only a night or two in a night club. The topics explored here are pertinent, especially with what was happening up until very recently with the erosion of gay rights in Trump’s America. Why do they do it? Is it a method of escaping the reality of the everyday? Everyone has their reasons and to the viewer perhaps it shouldn’t matter.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars gives an intimate look at today's US drag scene. The photographic examination deals, among other things, with the meaning of identity and the construction of a self apart from gender-specific role expectations.

Over a longer period of time, the protagonists were accompanied in their everyday life and photographed in private moments as well as during their performances. In addition to the act of transformation, the duality of man, which is determined by the image of self-design and the image of the outside, is addressed. Does clothing change our behavior and how much does it reveal something from the inside out? How does outward appearance affect how we appear to others? What is behind all the layers?

The medium of photography served me as a means of revealing the intricacies of the characters hidden behind the loud masqu

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