The exuberant performances and parades by the much-loved Ocaña were captured by accomplished photographers such as Colita, Toni Catany and Miquel Arnal, who created this striking series of slides. In his studio in Plaça Reial, Barcelona, Ocaña—a drag performer and countercultural icon during the final years of Franco’s dictatorship and Spain’s transition to democracy—prepares his outfit for the 1977 Vilanova Carnival. With friends Perico and Camilo, he poses among naive angels and papier-mâché virgins, reworking the popular religiosity of his native Andalusia in a constant defiant search for an identity that was rarely understood. The act of dressing-up itself condensed the performative nature of the construction of queer identity. Critic José Luis Quiroz described his carnival costume in detail: “He sewed it from top to bottom with white and red carnations, fern leaves and wild white flowers. . . . As accessories he wore a wig of ringlets, long white gloves, a jet bracelet and a folk-style fan. His makeup was chalky white, with bright red lips and striking false eyelashes”.