PHOTOGRAPHY GERMAN ROQUE - CREATIVE DIRECTION + MAKEUP EMILIE LOUIZIDES - WORDS JULIA LOUIZIDES
Josephine Hamilton has a beautiful spirit unbroken by her decades spent incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Her love of drag, hope found in community, and commitment to living a fun and authentic life are some of the grounding and sustaining forces she’s found her way back to since returning from prison to her home in New Orleans, Louisiana. Josephine’s flare and beauty were on full display during this F Word exclusive photo shoot. Friends of Josephine gathered at a colorful and vibrant home in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans to witness her makeup metamorphosis and cheer her on as she brought all the power to her poses in front of the camera.
An intimate morning shoot and interview to follow revealed the light Josephine brings to her interactions with the people she meets. Her light shines brilliantly despite the 43 years Josephine spent incarcerated at Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly referred to as Angola. Originating as a slave plantation, Angola is the largest maximum security prison in the United States with its legacy of enslavement remaining active to this day. At present, individuals incarcerated at Angola are forced to work, many in fields picking cotton and other crops associated with the Antebellum south, making no more than two cents per hour, and overseen by armed guards on horseback. Angola has a privatized phone system so calls home to loved ones for incarcerated individuals, many of whom come from low-income backgrounds, can be quite costly or impossible without outside financial support. This prison is designed to rob people of their dignity and identities and disconnect them from the outside world, putting their safety and physical and mental well-being at great risk.
This place served as the backdrop of Josephine’s lived experience for decades as she navigated violent and harmful dynamics from the age of 18 until her release at 61 years old. Since regaining her freedom, Josephine has reclaimed her love of drag, embraced her identity within the LGBTQ+ community, and restored her belief in the good of humanity realizing there are people in the world that care about her and will support and celebrate her. Read more from Josephine, in her own words, below.
Trigger Warning: SA, violence, abuse, homophobia.
Julia Louizides: So, how was the shoot for you?
Josephine Hamilton: Oh, the shoot was beautiful – I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it, it came out beautiful.
JL: Good, good. How’d you feel doing it?
JH: Comfortable. Very comfortable, I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.
JL: Is it similar to anything you’ve ever done before?
JH: No, that’s what made it so amazing. It was new to me.
JL: New experiences are so important.
JH: Yes.
JL: And I know you love drag…
JH: Yes, I do.
JL: Well, to start, can you tell me a little bit more about yourself outside of drag? Just anything about yourself you’d like to share.
JH: Well, I acknowledged that I was gay at the age of 9. I started dressing in drags when I was 14. I ran away from home when I was 12 and I started dressing in drags and wearing makeup when I was 14. My father didn’t accept it but the rest of my siblings and my mother, they accepted my lifestyle. I had trouble when I was coming up in school with the boys and stuff, but other than that, no.
JL: Were you close with your mom and siblings?
JH: Oh, very close. I was very close with my mother. Me and my mother was more of a brother and sister than a mama. Because I didn’t have to hide anything from her and I moved in with her with my first lover. He and I stayed together from the age of 16 to 17…yes.
JL: Was that in New Orleans?
JH: New Orleans…yeah that was in the 3rd Ward in the Magnolia Project.
JL: Gotcha, and you’re originally from New Orleans?
JH: Yes, I’m originally born and raised in the Desire Project on Benefit and Desire.
JL: How was it growing up in New Orleans?
JH: Well, it was okay besides the boys in the neighborhood teased me…threw bottles, bricks, and stuff at me when I was young. But I had a sister, her name was Mary, she’s passed away now in 2023, and she was like a tomboy and she got them all straightened out.
JL: I’m so sorry that happened…We love a big sister.
JH: Yes…she got them all straight.
JL: That’s great. Going back to drag, how did you first get into it and what was it like doing drag in your early days?
JH: Well, in my early days of doing drag I think it was marvelous but older gay people took advantage of me then because I was young and pretty and gorgeous and they would have me do gay shows and they would get the money and they would give me 20 or 30 dollars and they were getting paid like two or three hundred dollars for me doing the gay show. I didn’t know no better and at that time I thought 20 or 30 dollars was a lot of money, so yeah.
JL: And how young were you when you started that?
JH: 14.
JL: I see. Have you liked performing throughout your life? You like dancing?
JH: Yes, I do. I still do but I’m not able to now because of my disability I have with my legs and my hip. But I love dancing, I love dancing, I love dancing. Sometimes it irritates me because when I’ll be in the club and I go to feeling the music, all I can do is just sit in my chair and just dance in my chair because I can’t get on the dance floor. You know and dance with the regular people…but other than that it’s okay. You know I never drink, I never done drugs and I never smoke cigarettes or nothing like that…never in my whole life.
JL: Yeah, you just got the spirit in you.
JH: Yeah, oh yeah, I have – you know I went a few weeks ago to my job fair, this man was trying to get me a job through a job fair. And me and him was in this office and he was looking at me like he knows me or something. And he said, “Mr. Hamilton, you amaze me.” I said, “Why you say that?” He said, “Because being a person and being locked up for so many years like you have…your spirt is so so high. Most people would be bitter, sad, down,” he said, “but you got a spirit like you ain’t never been to prison.”
JL: Yeah, you’ve got a beautiful spirit. It’s really true.
JH: Well I always have the concept that no one sent me to prison but me. So, why would I be mad or sad when this is a mistake I made when I was young? I know better now. I’ll never go to a prison again but if I knew the things I know now then, I would have never have went to prison.
JL: And you were incarcerated for 43 years?
JH: 43 years, 6 months, and 13 days to be exact.
JL: Wow. And you went in when you were 18?
JH: 18.
JL: How has it been since you’ve been home and are acclimating to life here?
JH: Unbelievable. That’s the way I can describe it…unbelievable. Because I had the concept of they didn’t have no good caring people…I guess because of the lifestyle I lived for so many years with people in prison…hateful, cutthroat, conniving, and when I came out here and I found people out here…totally different from the people in prison. And, right now today, I still sit back and find it amazing how everybody treating me, have been towards me, you know and everybody, all my friends is new friends I’ve met and they’re treating me and they respect me like they’ve been knowing me all their life. I just find it amazing and unbelievable and I know I have to thank God for it first. I didn’t think it would be possible for me to have a lifestyle the way I’m having now. I have no regrets, you know, I sit back and I think maybe it took me going to prison to actually come out and see how beautiful life really are. And you know, it’s been beautiful for me since I’ve been out. July the 14th of this year will be two years I’ve been out. And I enjoy life so much like I ain’t ever been to prison.
JL: Are you going to do anything special on the 14th of July?
JH: Yes. I want to go to Las Vegas. I want to go to the casino in Las Vegas. I used to sit in prison and I used to watch the show Las Vegas on television and I used to always fantasize about me going to Las Vegas. And that’s what I’m gonna do on that day.
JL: Awesome, amazing.
JH: Well, the day before – I want to be in Las Vegas on that day there.
JL: Are you going to bring friends or go by yourself?
JH: No, I’m going to go by myself, I’m going to experience that myself.
JL: Have you gone on any trips since you’ve been home?
JH: Yes, I went to Pensacola, Florida, and I loved it. I went to the beach. And that’s the only place I’ve been but for my birthday I want to go to Atlanta.
JL: When’s your birthday?
JH: January the 27th.
JL: That’s exciting, that sounds like a nice time! I’m curious – after your 43 years of incarceration, do you have any thoughts on the carceral system and how you think justice should be framed in our society?
JH: Well I feel like if a man served 30 or more years, regardless to what he did I think he should be given a chance. Not everybody deserve it or would utilize it, but I think any man that did done 30 or more years for whatever reason should be given a chance. You have people that’s in prison that they lost their sight, can’t see, can’t walk, can’t move their hands…why you still got them in prison? You’re wasting tax paying money housing someone that can’t see. Paralyzed to the bed…let them go with their family. If they got family and their family want to take them, let them go. They’re not no more threat to society. But you know a person who’s been there 30 years, I think they should be given a chance.
JL: Do you think that the structure of prison itself should be any different? Or the treatment while you’re there or the things you’re able to do?
JH: Well, I’ll tell you from the time I went to prison it was “the bloodiest prison in the world” because every day I would witness someone getting killed, raped, beaten. Even some of the guards there were raping the homosexuals and stuff like that. Now the system has really changed and it’s really more safer now than it was when I first went.
JL: You noticed that shift in your experience there?
JH: Yes, I have.
JL: Since you’ve been home from being in prison, how has it felt getting back into the drag scene? Have you been doing any drag yourself or going to drag shows?
JH: Well, I do drag just spontaneously. Not as often as I did before I went to prison. But I’m always going to a gay show…always, always. I’ve been to tons of gay shows, I even go out to Baton Rouge on Thursday nights to a gay show. And I love it out there and I see a lot of gays that remind me of myself because they’re young and like I was and stuff…they’re more humbugish now but back then you know it was real peaceful when I was growing up. But I can tell you one thing – the young gays have a whole lot of respect for the older gays.
JL: Have you found a sense of community being back in the gay community and the drag community here?
JH: Yes, yes I have. I been in three relationships since I’ve been home. Now I’m in one now. We had broke up a couple of weeks ago but we’re back together now and we’re doing pretty good now.
JL: Good! Now that you’ve been home and back with your community – what is it that you love about drag?
JH: Well…for one I like to see do I still have it? For two…I love drag. I love going to drag shows, I love being in drags. It’s a part of me like it’s an old tradition. Like carnival, Mardi Gras, you know it’s something like that. And it’s a party and having fun and I have so much fun you would think I drink but I only drink fruit juices when I go to those. But I just enjoy seeing people having fun, you know. Dancing, having fun, clowning around and it just amazes me to see it.
JL: Throughout your life, like early life and now that you’re doing drag again, has doing drag helped you discover things about your gender and sexuality?
JH: Yes, it has. Yes, it has.
JL: Do you feel like it’s a form of expression for those things?
JH: Yes, I do.
JL: I’m curious too, what are your general hopes and dreams for your future both drag-related and otherwise?
JH: Well, I want to continue on doing drag as long as I’m living. And for my future, I just like to be able to go out and enjoy life to its fullest and not have no worries at all. That’s my future. You know I say well God gave me this time so I’m going to enjoy it to the fullest, I’m gonna take one day at a time, I don’t cherish no money or nothing. If I have it, I spend it and if I don’t have it, I don’t spend it. I just want to enjoy life peacefully, that’s all.
JL: Beautiful.
JH: That’s it.
JL: Is there anything we haven’t covered today that you’d like to share about anything having to do with your whole story, anything at all?
JH: Well, the only thing about my life that’s not completed is not having my mother. If I had my mother, my life would be totally completed. Because me and my mother had a relationship that was unbelievable. You know, and if I had her, that would be my total completion.
JL: What’s her name?
JH: Shirley Mae Bright.
JL: That’s a beautiful name.
JH: Yep.
JL: When did she pass?
JH: 1983, Christmas Day. Christmas morning, 9:45 that morning.
JL: I’m so sorry.
JH: Yeah, she passed away. But other than that, that would totally complete my life. If I was able to come home and my mother was still living.
JL: Sounds like such a meaningful relationship.
JH: Oh, we had an unbelievable relationship. Never a dull moment with my mother…never a dull moment.
JL: She sounds like a really good mom.
JH: Yup.
JL: I bet she’d be really proud of you.
JH: Yes, and now since I’ve been out I go and buy balloons and I go to the lakefront or somewhere where water’s at and I let the balloons up every time for her birthday and holidays and everything like that. Me and my last sister do that. We were eight of us and there’s only two of us now. My baby sister, she’s the last girl and I’m the last boy. She’s 62 and I’m 63.
JL: Were you close in age to all your siblings?
JH: Yes, except one brother. That’s my oldest brother. Me and him weren’t too close because of my sex preferences. But, other than that, I was close with every last one of my siblings. I had a relationship with him but not like the others.
JL: I see. Well, thank you so much for everything. For talking about all of this and putting your all out there with the photos, I think we’re gonna have some really gorgeous pictures.
JH: Yes. Okay. Thank you, too, I had a good time.
JL: As you know, your photos from today and this interview will be featured in F-Word Magazine. So, Josephine, what’s your favourite F Word?
JH: Freak.
JL: Yes!!
JH: Freak.
JL: That’s a really good one.
JH: Yep, that’s my favourite F Word. Freak.
JL: That’s amazing.
JH: Yes.
