I remember this day so well. I was a little anxious. I wanted Agosto to feel the reverence and respect with which I approached his makeup.
Not only as an elder who moved through and fought for equal rights alongside Marsha P. Johnson, and as part of GAA, a movement that predated Stonewall. But also because, in him, I saw myself - a mirror.
As a queer person. As an artist. As a fellow Filipino: my kababayan.
In our culture, we hold our elders with a kind of reverence that borders on sainthood. A quiet understanding of what they’ve endured to still be here.
“People only make a fuss about me because I’m still around - because I survived,” Agosto told me that day as I was doing his makeup. “So many of us are gone now. It was a different time. I was a street queen. We took so many risks… sleeping in strangers’ beds just to have a place to stay for the night. To survive. But oh, we had so much fun“ he said, with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes.
Thank you, Agosto, for surviving. For sharing your story, your art, and your light.
I hope to continue that lineage in my own way: to make art, fight for what’s right, and stay in the light; having as much fun as I can, for as long as I can.
Paalam, Tita. Hanggang sa muli 🤍
RIP Agosto Machado
