Drag Ball, London
- Artist: Chris Steele-Perkins
- Date: 1980–9
- Medium: Photograph, dye destruction on paper
- Dimensions: image: 255 x 381 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Drag Ball London” by Chris Steele‑Perkins, a colour photograph made in 1980–9 with cibachrome dye‑destruction on paper. The image shows a vibrant drag ball scene in London’s nightlife, capturing the exuberant energy of 1980s youth culture. It is one of forty‑four prints that comprise “The Pleasure Principle”, a collection that records scenes of leisure and enjoyment across Britain during that decade—from sports fields to countryside hikes, even a portrait of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Steele‑Perkins set out to re‑orient himself after photographing abroad, and he explains in a 1980–9 interview that “I was not interested in polemics, or a fashionable cynicism… I wanted to re‑orientate myself.” In the photograph you see people dancing, singing, laughing—public rituals that convey identity and belief. The dye‑destruction process gives each image a vivid, almost painterly quality, letting the viewer feel as if standing there.
I’ll let the scene speak for itself; take in the movement and colour, then reflect on what it says about 1980s Britain’s search for happiness.
See it in person
Drag Ball, London is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
