Dylan Reber

A public photo art display celebrating drag queens and LA Pride history has become the target of vandalism in West Hollywood. 

The life-size portraits come from an essay on the second West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval in the late 1980s, and have been on display along the Sunset Strip section of Sunset Boulevard since May 1. Now, more than a dozen of them have been burned, tagged with graffiti, stabbed, or slashed. 

Local station KABC-TV spoke with the artist responsible for the displays, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of her personal safety. 

“Some of the images were burned and they were gouged with some kind of instrument,” she said, “It just makes me sad.”

In video footage captured by KABC, defaced drag queen portraits can be seen with gouged or burnt faces. One is marked with a long vertical slash and the initials “VS” in graffiti. 

“I just think the energy of the country just sucks. It’s like America needs to get it together, I don’t know why people have to be so nasty to each other,” the artist shared. KABC reports that she was brought to tears over the vandalism.

The artist also noted that she took the photos herself in the 1980s, and that she was thrilled to share them during Pride month.

“You know, I just remember that as a really fun time in my life and I wanted to share those images,” she said.

The artist has contacted the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department but has yet to file an official report because she is out town.