Since entering showbiz as a contestant on the first season of the drag competition Drag Den in 2022, Pura Luka Vega has made it clear that they will not apologize for the kind of art they want to create. In 2023, they made headlines after their performance in a bar of the religious song "Ama Namin" while wearing a Jesus-inspired outfit. It went viral and led to a public outcry from members of the religious and political communities, leading to their arrest and subsequent release that same year.
This year, the outspoken artist shared their interest to get into theater and finally being able to make their debut as a comic book author in an exclusive interview with PUSH ABS-CBN during the Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 4 media launch held earlier this month at the PETA theater in Quezon City.
“I think I’ve always been very protective of my drag. I’ve always been protective of the art that I produce. So definitely they’ll see more of me because I think drag has always been healing for me. So I’ll continue to do whatever I do because that’s what I live for. That’s why I feel like doing. It’s important na dapat gumawa tayo ng sining dahil ang sining ay mapagpalaya,” they said.
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Aside from performing in drag, Pura also shared that they are hoping to become part of local theater this year as well.
“I’ve always been open to a lot of things. It’s just that I’m very fortunate to be able to watch these plays and little and little, I’m actually trying to audition as best as I can. But I’m always a fan of theater plays. I think theater and movies, all these things, are very important. It’s real time and I think we need to invest more in the arts because it’s not well funded. We want the government to fund the arts right?” they added.
During the media launch, the once-controversial drag artist shared the inspiration for their eye-catching OOTD came after watching the movie The Devil Wears Prada 2.
“I’m channeling somewhat of a younger version of Miranda Priestly (laughs). I am still on a high from how good the movie was from the latest franchise. I’ve been a fan of the movie, I’ve been a fan of the book. There’s also a musical of the Devil Wears Prada. So all of these things I love. In real life, hindi naman ako nagmamaldita sa taong mabait sa akin. So I’ll leave it at that (laughs). Pero mahirap maging maldita eh. Pero minsan kailangan kasi (laughs),” They explained.
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The talented drag artist also gave an update on their writing debut which was initially announced last year, but is finally happening in June.
“I have an upcoming comic book scheduled to be released next month. I hope they get to enjoy the comic book that I wrote. It took a while because we needed more time for the artist to actually make the comic. It’s not easy to make a comic book. Siyempre hindi natin puwede i-ask sa AI (laughs). And then apart from the comic book, I still do drag shows here and there. Hopefully, there’s a theater play for me in the future or a movie. The book that I wrote is an attempt to give people an idea of what the drag world is. Apart from the glamour, there’s a real story to the difficulty of doing drag. It’s under Anino comics of Adarna,” they told PUSH ABS-CBN.