Sarah Deragon Is Preserving Queer Lives With This Time Capsule
The exhibition is now open at the Petaluma Arts Center in California through June 7.
Sarah Deragon (above) is a queer photographer and visual storyteller based in the Bay Area. She has dedicated the past decade to exploring, preserving, and amplifying LGBTQ+ histories, narratives, and futures. Her latest project, Queer Time Capsule—A Living Archive of Queer Brilliance, is a photography exhibition and living archive of LGBTQIA+ life. Queer Time Capsule is a continuation of her previous work The Identity Project—a portrait series that uplifted the diverse ways individuals name and express their gender and sexuality. Queer Time Capsule harnesses those ideas with portraits that shine a light on joy, pain, beauty, and defiance. The exhibition is now open at the Petaluma Arts Center in California through June 7.
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“This project is about presence as resistance. Queer Time Capsule is a visual archive of our truth, created in direct defiance of the political forces attempting to erase, silence, and legislate us out of existence,” Sarah told GO. The portraits from this project take various meanings and truths, capturing stills of LaLa Ri, wall tributes to femme visibility, “Queers in 2025,” and behind-the-scenes photos as evidence of what it really takes to pull off a project like this.
Portraits of LaLa Ri
In January, Sarah posted a photo of LaLa Ri, a drag star originally from Atlanta, Georgia, whose unforgettable runs you may have seen on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13 and All Stars Season 8. She captioned the photo, “I want to photograph her this year.” To her surprise, LaLa replied, saying, “Let’s do it.” After a Zoom call, plans to shoot were in motion, and they flew to the Bay Area. This series captures LaLa out of drag as, at this time, she was taking a break—leaving the spotlight to rest, reflect, and focus on producing shows. The portraits captured by Sarah “live in the quiet in-between of the LaLa Ri Experience,” Sarah told GO. “They’re tender, powerful, and full of presence.” Being a force and charmer in the drag world, LaLa has become one of the most celebrated queens in the drag franchise. Her talent, energy, and unforgettable spirit are what made Sarah unhesitant to include LaLa in the time capsule.
Femmes
In her time capsule, Sarah has dedicated a full wall of “femme visibility” portraits as a tribute to femme identities. She defines femme identity as a sexual orientation, a gender identity, a fashion statement, and a way of moving through the world. Femmes is close to Sarah’s heart; it’s an unapologetic representation of how she identifies. “These portraits were taken in my studio in Sausalito over the past few months,” she told GO. “I invited a handful of femmes I’ve been connected to since I moved to the Bay Area in 2006—and they brought their friends, expanding the circle of badass femmes showing up fully and representing their queerness on their own terms.”
Queers in 2025
Queers in 2025 is a contemporary portrait wall that documents current moments. “The portraits were created to reflect a different kind of truth—one that isn’t always joyful, but is deeply human,” she explained to GO. Sarah captured elements of real emotion—anger, grief, shock, vulnerability—to document real and honest expressions from queer people who are navigating an increasingly uncertain world.
“You won’t find any posed smiles here. You’ll see presence. You’ll witness people showing up exactly as they are. Here I document what words often can’t: the weight of a moment, and the strength it takes to live through it.”
The Artist
The behind-the-scenes photos in Queer Time Capsule are just as important as the final polished images. The process of experimentation, failure, trial and error, and practice is all part of the creative process and deserves to be documented. Behind-the-scenes shots capture the in-between moments, messy studios, lighting configurations, and clothing remnants and reworkings. “These aren’t outtakes. They’re evidence. Of care, of hustle, of practice and how much it takes to make something look effortless,” she told GO. To Sarah, queerness isn’t just her identity—it’s the lens through which she imagines and creates, and is the very foundation of every piece of her work.
Queer Time Capsule allows Sarah to turn this lens toward the dire need to document stories in the face of rising hostility against the queer community. “Our very existence is under attack,” says Sarah. “This project is an act of resistance and self-love. It is a way to say: we are here, we have always been here, and we will be remembered—on our terms.” She adds that Queer Time Capsule is an evolving record of queer existence, and is made through vibrant portraiture and visual storytelling in effort to reclaim queer memory as a tool of resistance, connection, and joy.
“Our stories matter, our existence is resistance, and our future is worth documenting.”
You can view Queer Time Capsule—A Living Archive of Queer Brilliance at the Petaluma Arts Center until June 7, 2025. For more information about Queer Time Capsule, you can visit the website or Instagram. Find Sarah Dergaon on Instagram and check out more of her photography here.
