Leon Csernohlavek
Photography Dusty by Greg Vaughan Nik by Leon Csernohlavek
Over the generations, humans across the world have believed a host of unlikely and spectacular things. The Mayan civilisation of South America held that a human sacrifice was necessary to offer nourishment to the gods. Early Islamic societies thought that the wonder of Allah could be approached through the ordered, abstract beauty of geometric patterns, and the Roman Catholic Church believes in transubstantiation: the bread and wine of Holy Communion literally becomes the human flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist. But Dusty Ray Bottoms, the lip-synch titan and Ru Paul’s Drag Race season 10 contestant, faced a different set of beliefs. Born Dustin Raymond, she now now goes by the name Dusty and uses the female pronoun. The Church her parents belonged to, near the Kentucky heartland city of Louisville, believes that a spiritual transfer takes place during sexual acts — by having sex with someone, you take on part of their spirit and soul.