In pictures: the alien ‘bodybuilders’ haunting the UK underground

 

Flick through the pages of Bodybuilders, and prepare to be transported. From the folkloric experiments of Sgàire Wood, to the extraterrestrial looks of Dazed 100 alumni Salvia, the photobook profiles 30 of the most exciting young drag artists in the UK. Made by Alien, a queer artist and DJ from Milan, Bodybuilders is not intended to be an exhaustive document of the scene, but rather a snapshot of an emerging subculture. It includes images of well-known performers like RuPaul UK contestant Dakota Schiffer and Lewis G Burton, founder of London’s elusive queer techno party Inferno. These figures are pictured alongside underground artists that are pushing a “niche within a niche”: from looks drawing on goth culture and manga, to those that fuse the satanic and medieval.