Paris Alexander

‍Paris Alexander is a multidisciplinary visual performance artist who acts, writes plays, does drag, conceptual standup, and whatever they want. Paris’ work often has many aspects of reference and reverence for the past, as a way to look into the future. Their unofficial secret drag name is Nostalgia. With Voxigma Lo and Julie J, they host and produce Sylvester, a monthly black experimental drag review presented at Purgatory in Brooklyn. Their work has been presented for Ars Nova, JACK, Carnegie Hall, The Park Avenue Armory, and Grace Exhibition Space, among other places. They are the Curator of La MaMa’s Squirts: Generations of Queer Performance.

Some favorite projects from the last year include Bullshit (May 2022) Designed by Paris, and written and performed in collaboration with Hannah Kallenbach at Ars Nova, curated by Machel Ross, and a liminal performance for Karen Finley’s Kitty Kaleidoscope Disco at The Park Avenue Armory. A favorite piece to perform is Ancestral Invocation, where they lip sync and sing along to tracks from their late grandmother’s New Age album “Ceremony” that includes a song with a plea for Papa Legba to open the gates to the spirit world.

  • Access. Movement. Play. (A.M.P.) Residency Program
  • 2023 A.M.P. Residency Artists
  • 2023 AMP Artist in Residence
Paris Alexander, light-skinned mixed Black queer person, stands contrapposto in their bedroom looking directly toward the camera, one arm behind their back, one leaning on a bright pink dresser. They are wearing silver high-waisted pants with flaring wide-legs and a matching tank top cinched at the waist. A black pick comb as large as Paris and adorned in large sparkles rests against the wall next to them. Photo courtesy of the artist.
ID: Paris Alexander, light-skinned mixed Black queer person, stands contrapposto in their bedroom looking directly toward the camera, one arm behind their back, one leaning on a bright pink dresser. They are wearing silver high-waisted pants with flaring wide-legs and a matching tank top cinched at the waist. A black pick comb as large as Paris and adorned in large sparkles rests against the wall next to them. Photo courtesy of the artist.