The concept for this poster is a cheeky play on the show title, Straight for Pay, in all its forms. Queer people are continuously objectified and exploited for their queerness when it's convenient for people who want to make money off of us; while being simultaneously vilified. "Gay for Pay" is also one of the most commonly searched pornography terms for so-called heterosexual people, and yet the concept of our existence is still largely questioned/mocked/and being written out of basic legislative protections at a rapid pace. Sometimes I have to pretend to be straight to stay safe while out in the world, sometimes I do it to take roles from straight actors (a time-honored tradition flipped on its head), and sometimes I do it to draw attention to the fact that so much of the way we all present ourselves to assimilate into society is really all just a big performance regardless of your gender or sexuality. This poster is our comedic take on this concept and is inspired by select 90s hip-hop album covers where the subject is meant to be flexing on everyone with their wealth, but it's also clearly staged for everyone else's benefit. We then subverted this by making the dollars as tiny as possible and showing a behind-the-scenes glimpse of this faux bravado as I gently applied my money mustache bill by tiny bill.
- Designer
- Cara Connors
- Photographer
- Smiles Meyer
- Performer
- Cara Connors
- Show
- Cara Connors: Straight for Pay