Creature Feature: King of Drag Loke

While Loke extends his strength and energies onstage, Tori has worked countless hours offstage at her day job to provide strength to her brothers and sisters of the community with her artwork. For the past six years, Tori has worked as a tattoo artist for Murray’s Zen Tattoo. Following the wake of the tragedy at Pulse Nightclub in Florida, the Bad Kids Collective decided to hold a fundraising event for the victims and their families. “There were so many emotions following that event—it definitely hit close to home,” says Tori. “I’ve been lucky enough to have a safe space to be who I am, and [we] felt a threat on that safe space we work so hard to create. I felt really threatened—so I wanted to do something to give back.” She gave out 17 tattoos during the event, which raised a little over $1,200. Hearing this hits me in a way I didn’t expect, and I’m extremely proud of our LGBTQ community in Salt Lake and their selfless love.

Tori, in turn, has been just as affected by our community and then some. When I ask how it’s been for her since becoming a part of the Bad Kids, she enthusiastically admits that she loves the “sparking group of souls” within the Collective. She’s experienced little to no discrimination as a drag king within a group predominately made of queens. “I think it’s cool to see so many kinds of queers,” says Tori. “It’s really allowed me to take a step back from my reality versus everyone else’s. It allows us to all mesh together and coexist. Within the Collective, we praise all kinds of bodies, all kinds of energies. Sometimes I’m really masculine, and sometimes I’m really feminine. So I think [in] the back and forth between all of us, we come to this place where we all become non-binary.” If we would all contain a small aspect of the fierce love and don’t-fuck-with-me attitude that Loke emulates, this world might be a little less shit and a little more tolerable.

Check out Loke’s artwork on Instagram @artoftoriloke and be sure to stop by the next Weirdo event held the second and fourth Fridays of every month at Area 51.