Conchita Wurst: 'Most Artists Are Sensitive And Insecure People. I Am Too'

THE GUARDIAN
By Kathryn Bromwich

With Austrian history, it's good to have something positive.' Conchita Wurst photographed in the Corinthia Hotel, London, July 2014. Wunderkind Couture dress by Wolfgang Joop. Photograph: Phil Fisk for the Observer New Review

AUSTRIA---In the two months since winning Eurovision with the rousing power ballad "Rise Like a Phoenix," Conchita Wurst has gone from well-liked personality at home in Austria to global gay icon. In Victorian times, bearded ladies, sometimes genuine, usually false, were a staple of circuses, but when freak shows lost their lure they virtually disappeared. Today, Conchita is a distinctly modern reimagining of the phenomenon: in drag, in control, in 6-in tangerine heels. Not all the attention has been positive. Austrians created anti-Conchita Facebook groups, Russians shaved off their beards in protest and church leaders and politicians made disparaging comments about her, variously labelling her "dangerous" and blaming her for fatal Balkan floods. [link]