Nova Nexus Noir- a tale of self-discovery and acceptance

Nova Nexus Noir, a Dublin/Limerick-based drag queen, made their public debut in February of this year and is rapidly gaining popularity. Nova kicked off their drag career with a win in Limerick City at ‘Runway to Drag’, one of Limerick’s biggest drag competitions. This fuelled Nova with the drive and confidence to pursue drag. 

Still exhilarated after their most recent victory, Nova described their journey of breaking into the drag scene while touching on the support they received after their debut. They explained how drag has allowed them to discover and explore their gender identity. 

Nova hosts drag shows dubbed “CCNNT Events,” which are situated in Limerick City’s The Wickham. Previous events have been titled ‘Night of a 1,000 Gaga’s’ or ‘Night of a 1,000 Charli’s’, where the main aim is “building a platform for smaller artists and just having a good time”. CCNNT events have created a supportive and accepting environment that allows smaller queens to perform, it is a night to have fun, be free, and enjoy drag.   

They spoke about what happened after an event when they were getting a taxi home from Limerick, ‘‘I felt someone tapping me on my shoulder and I thought I was going to get hate-crimed but I turned around and it was my Mam and her best friend’’, who travelled from Dublin to support them. 

“I’m not this beautiful woman, I’m more of an alternative queen” Nova says.  

Unlike many queens in the new age of drag, Nova does not strive for female illusion yet prefers the androgyny of their aesthetic. Nova said “I used to always describe myself as an alien” as they spoke about their drag style to be alien esc whilst also resembling club kid aesthetics (a NYC group most known for their flamboyant behaviour and outrageous fashion).  

They explained how their vision for their drag is to be “club kid meets fashion” and if you look at their Instagram page, this shows their aesthetic perfectly. They begin to describe their drag personality as “she’s a ***** but in a fun endearing way”. They say, “I’ve always looked at her as such a different person, a different aspect of me and I never correlated the two together and I realised that she is just a part of me with heightened confidence”.  

They delved into the topic of gender and Jamie (Nova Nexus), opened up about their journey as they came to terms with their gender identity. They enthusiastically expressed their love for raising awareness about queer topics and issues as they highlighted the importance of this conversation. “I was assigned male at birth and was fine with that until I turned 19 or 20 and I realised I didn’t feel like a man all the time and I didn’t feel like a woman either,”.  

They explained how they began to play with makeup, not doing drag, “just a boy in makeup and I remember one night I turned to my partner and said I think I’m non-binary”. Nova described the comfort of this realisation yet also the hardship of their family not understanding and the initial lack of support due to their absence of knowledge around the subject and term non-binary. “Then when I started doing drag, I realised that gender is just a construct, why do I need to label this?”  

Nova discussed the support they have received from friends and family. They said their friends are particularly supportive of their drag yet with family it was more complex.  

“The non-binary thing really through my parents through a loop” Nova explains their initial struggle for acceptance from their family, but the narrative instantly changed when they started doing drag as they now divulge in pride for Nova Nexus. “After I won the drag competition, I sent them a picture of me in a beautiful crown and my Mam and Dad were just like yeah we knew you were going to win”.  

Nova explained proudly that they identify as genderqueer (he/him, she/her, they/them) and that “it shouldn’t matter to anyone, the person who it matters to the most is myself”. Drag has shown them that they can express their femininity and masculinity without having to confine themselves to a label.  

They said that “the most exciting part of drag… is that I’ve gotten to discover myself so much more, not just Nova Nexus, I’ve gotten to discover Jamie too”.   

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