WILD AT HEART
Whoops, someone’s clippers clearly cut out on them mid-trim this morning. That’s the initial thought that springs to mind when Wyn Wiley, aka Pattie Gonia, pops up on the computer screen for our video interview, with half his face sprinkled with fuzz and the other as smooth as a baby’s bottom.
Perhaps spotting a flicker of confusion dance across my face, Wyn is quick to clarify that he hasn’t been the hapless victim of a grooming disaster. No, the flip-of-a-coin look is entirely intentional, as he has just been spreading his creative wings for a photo shoot, a bird-inspired one at that.
“There is a photographer here in America that photographed an intersex cardinal [bird] that’s half female, half male and it’s essentially split down the middle,” he chirps. “So, yeah, I went out this morning and did this makeup look; one side is completely drag and then the other is ‘normal’.”
Holding up his phone, Wyn shows me a few pictures from the shoot and they’re pretty, ahem, peck-tacular.
The Nebraska-based photographer took flight as drag alter-ego Pattie a couple of years ago, and with a soaring profile and over 300,000 followers on Instagram, the 28-year-old has been ruffling feathers ever since as a fierce environmentalist fighting for his girl, Mother Natch.
(If you haven’t watched Wyn’s Everything to Lose video, we implore you to.)
“I don’t even think I’m a drag queen,” he shrugs. “I’m a drag ‘thing’ that’s really passionate about building community and conversation around the outdoors and the environment.”
, Wyn’s taps into the transformative power of slipping into a pair of thigh-high boots, as he
