New exhibit explores decades of Ottawa drag and queer history

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The students chose to begin with contemplative black-and-white photographs in the first half of the exhibit before moving into brighter colour images in the back half. Performers appear onstage, but the exhibition also captures queer nightlife, friends spending time together and drag artists participating in political protests.

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“The students wanted to tell the story right,” Carleton history professor James Opp said. “They don’t want to tell somebody else’s story the wrong way.” Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

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Few characters in the city’s queer history are quite as colourful as Peaches Latour.

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According to signage displayed at the archives, Fournier moved from Buckingham, Que., to Ottawa at 16 to train as a hairdresser and debuted as Peaches in the early 1960s. Peaches went on to perform at venues including Chez Henri, Coral Reef, TakTiks, Valentino’s and Le Club, becoming a mainstay of the Ottawa-Hull drag scene.

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“At one point, his rate was $3,000 a night for a show,” Opp said.

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In the late ’60s, the exhibit says, Fournier was questioned by the RCMP during the LGBT Purge. Officers presented him with photo albums and pressured him to identify other members of the LGBT community. He refused.

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Peaches retired in 1995 and received the Order of Ottawa in 2024.

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For Mercury, seeing Peaches represented in the archives also offers younger Ottawa performers proof that the community they are building today has deep roots.

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“For other drag performers like myself, it is so inspiring to know that there has been so much drag in the city,” he said.

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While Peaches was in front of the crowd, Hannan liked to be behind the camera.

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According to the exhibition, Hannan was born in Sherbrooke, Que., in 1958 and studied history, politics, photography and journalism at Trent University, the University of Ottawa and Carleton.

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He spent more than four decades involved in queer-rights and AIDS activism while working as a photographer and journalist. He contributed to Capital Xtra!, Ottawa’s then LGBTQ+ monthly periodical, where he served as managing editor, before later pursuing a diplomatic career with Global Affairs Canada.

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Hannan died in 2023, and the City of Ottawa Archives received his extensive photographic collection after his death.

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The student project was initially envisioned around digitizing and describing photographs, Opp said, but the archives offered its exhibition space as the work developed.

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Laura Logan, the archives’ exhibitions and outreach officer, said the gallery was intended for community projects, making an exhibition a natural extension of the students’ work.

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“It was really busy,” Logan said of the exhibition’s opening in April. “We’ve had a lot of groups come through and the feedback has been very positive.”

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The exhibition will remain open to the public at the archives until December.

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For Mercury, bringing these photographs into public view means a new generation can encounter people who lived in the same city decades earlier and recognize something of themselves.

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“A lot of us are in our 20s, wanting to know this history and wanting to share it, and wanting to bring it to light,” he said.

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It is, Mercury said, a chance for that generation to take up the mantle.

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“We won’t let this be forgotten, and we’re gonna be inspired by it, and we’re gonna continue to share it.”

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