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In the early 2000s, Firrell became friends with Jaime/Suzette and Paterno/Desire, drag queens at Madame JoJo's in Soho and L'Équipe Anglaise in Mayfair.
Drag has always been deeply political, of course, but for the artist, it had an additional resonance since it represented everything his Norfolk upbringing was not.
I went to see Desire’s striptease act, and somehow he took everything off and still maintained the illusion. Later he was complaining about not being paid enough for the work he had put in, asking me, 'Have you any idea how long it takes to apply a prosthetic pussy?' My drag queen chums - so beautiful, so mad, like an elaborate rude gesture to Norwich, school, provincialism and bigotry.
Suzette and Desire posed for this photograph by Alister Thorpe for
Celebrate Difference.
According to the artist, the aim was to create a seductive and frankly homoerotic image.
