Queer|Art has partnered with RuPaul’s Drag Race star Megami to launch a limited-edition artist-designed T-shirt, with all proceeds supporting the organisation’s work championing LGBTQ+ artists across generations and disciplines.
Available in exchange for a donation starting at $50, the shirt draws on one of the most memorable moments from Season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. During her now-viral talent show performance, Megami lip-synced to 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up” before revealing a series of protest signs, culminating in the message: “PROTECT QUEER ART.” The phrase quickly became an online meme, but also resonated as a rallying cry for queer artists facing increasing political and cultural pressures.
The design forms the latest release in The Queer|Art Tee Shop, an initiative led by designer and creative director Willie Norris that invites artists and cultural figures to create limited-edition shirts benefiting Queer|Art. Previous contributors include artist and activist Avram Finkelstein and Queer|Art Executive Director Río Sofia.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Sofia described Megami’s original performance as arriving at a critical moment for LGBTQ+ communities and organisations.
“I’ve dreamt of this collaboration between Queer|Art and Megami since I saw her performance on Drag Race live at a local bar in Brooklyn back in 2024,”
Sofia said.
“Megami held up that sign at the exact moment mainstream support for queer people and LGBTQ organizations was collapsing. Corporations were abandoning Pride, and with that, gigs were disappearing—not just for nonprofits like Queer|Art, but for artists, for drag performers, the people who make queer culture visible.”
Sofia added that the image has continued to resonate because of its directness and cultural relevance.
“Queer artists are sacred—especially in times like these, when speaking truth to power is brave and necessary.”
The shirt features Megami’s now-iconic image and is available in two colourways: black and white, and white and pink. Produced from 100% ring-spun cotton and printed using water-based inks, the garment is intended as both a wearable artwork and a fundraising tool.
Megami, whose name is taken from the Japanese word for “goddess”, first gained recognition through cosplay and convention culture before becoming one of the standout personalities of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16. Alongside her viral “Protect Queer Art” moment, she earned praise for her songwriting, performances and memorable appearances throughout the competition.
Founded in 2009, Queer|Art provides mentorship, grants, awards and public programming for LGBTQ+ artists. The organisation was established in response to the loss of cross-generational artistic networks caused by the AIDS crisis and continues to focus on supporting queer creative communities through mentorship, advocacy and direct financial support.
At a moment when conversations around funding, visibility and artistic freedom remain urgent, the collaboration transforms one of drag culture’s most recognisable recent images into a practical act of support—raising funds for the artists and communities it was originally created to defend.
BUY: queer-art.org/tee-shop/protect-queer-art
About
Willie Norris TEE SHOP Creative Director, is a fashion designer and creative director with a thing for words. Characterized by The New York Times as a “master of bringing together,” her style is direct, poetic, and communal—an apt encapsulation of the practice she has developed and deploys through Willie Norris WORKSHOP, the creative practice and commercial imprint she founded in 2018.
Through WILLIE NORRIS WORKSHOP, her work earnestly seeks to offer wayfinding and provisional clarity for a contemporary, corporeal experience. It engages themes of modern misery, yearning, dread, escape, intimacy, connection, delusion, forgiveness, personal responsibility, and play.
Notable recent projects include serving as Creative Director for the 2025 Performance Space Gala and for Doll Invasion. Her varied roster of external brand, institutional, and community collaborators and beneficiaries includes AWAY, Dieux, Helmut Lang, Outlier, Planned Parenthood, Gotham FC, MoMA PS1, and G.L.I.T.S.
Her work is held in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Her story and work have been covered internationally by VOGUE, GQ, The New York Times, The Financial Times, i-D, W and many others.
Queer|Art (QA) cultivates a dynamic community of LGBTQ+ artists across generations and artistic disciplines. Founded in 2009, the organization provides intergenerational mentorship, public programming, and material support to shape culture and drive societal change.
The devastating loss of a generation of artists to the ongoing AIDS pandemic has created a profound longing for cross-generational connections, mentorship, and community. Queer|Art serves as a ballast against this loss, seeking to highlight and address a continuing fundamental lack of both economic and institutional support for our community. As an artist-led and community-centered organization, QA artists are united by shared values of collective care, creative resilience, and the preservation and advancement of queer legacies and queer futures.
Ongoing programmatic initiatives include: our annual cornerstone program, the year-long Queer|Art|Mentorship, and a wide array of awards, grants, and offerings that provide direct support to LGBTQ+ artists. @queerart
