In Between

One of Australia’s most recognisable and influential queer figures, Courtney Act has played a significant role in bringing gender fluidity into mainstream consciousness. The drag persona of Brisbane-born performer Shane Jenek (b. 1982), Act rose to national prominence during the first season of Australian Idol in 2003, captivating audiences with her charisma, distinctive style and dazzling performances. Jenek later introduced her to international audiences through the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2014, before winning Celebrity Big Brother UK in 2018. Through it all, Jenek/Act have used their global platform to champion LGBTQIA+ voices.

This portrait by artist Paul Yore is a celebratory embodiment of camp theatricality and exuberant excess. Act’s likeness emerges from an assemblage of carefully colour-matched objects, including drag detritus from her ‘drag room’, from discarded eyelashes to press-on nails and stray sequins. These sit among thousands of found and repurposed materials: beads, butterflies, toys, shells, gold stilettos, a mini Sydney Opera House, a yellow Sherrin AFL football, a can of XXXX Gold beer, a pineapple and photographic portraits of both Jenek and Act. By turning this eclectic mix of disparate objects into a radiant portrait, Yore evokes the transformative spirit of drag. He elevates the overlooked and the everyday and celebrates what he refers to as a ‘dynamic process of constant reinvention’. ‘There’s this old, kind of clichéd idea of artists holding up a mirror to society. But from a queer perspective, it’s more a fractured mirror or disrupted image we’re reflecting back. We’re showing the contradictions in meaning and the slippages between things.’

Commissioned with funds provided by Hayley Baillie & James Baillie 2026
© National Portrait Gallery of Australia