With “Drag Queen in Waiting,” Jan Mayo captures a vulnerable moment backstage and brings his approach to portraiture to London’s National Portrait Gallery, one of the world’s most important institutions dedicated to the form.
The art of portraiture is the art of vulnerability and trust. The sitter places themselves in front of another person, allowing themselves to be looked at, interpreted, and ultimately captured through their eyes. Once finished, the portrait leaves that exchange behind, only to open itself to countless other eyes and their own interpretations of viewers looking back. This November, one such portrait makes its way from Manila to London. Filipino photographer Jan Mayo will make his debut at the National Portrait Gallery, London, with his photograph “Drag Queen in Waiting” selected for the 2026 Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize exhibition. The work is one of just 55 chosen from nearly 4,000 international entries across 55 countries. The exhibition runs from November 5, 2026, to January 17, 2027.
“I love photographing people; even when I photograph fashion, the person must always come first,” he tells Lifestyle Asia. “I love looking for the connection between me and the sitter because, from what I have realized working as a photographer, is that more than a technical skill, portrait photography is a social skill. So each photographer will have a different take or image even when photographing the same sitter.”
“I also love looking for the sincerity in a sitter’s eyes,” he adds. “I make it a point that each portrait I take should be sincere.”
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The Evolving Art Of Portraiture
Founded in 1856, the National Portrait Gallery, London, was the first gallery in the world dedicated to portraiture. Its earliest collecting principles placed the greatest value on the significance of the person represented, rather than the artistic merit of the portrait. Over time, that understanding expanded, with greater importance given to portraiture as an art form. In that sense, the Gallery’s history also traces an evolving conversation around portraiture and what the relationship between artist, sitter, and viewer might reveal.
Photography has become part of that continuing conversation. The Gallery has held an international photographic portrait competition since the 1990s under various names. Today, the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize, formerly the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize, continues that tradition, celebrating contemporary photographic portraiture through work by established professionals, emerging photographers, and amateurs alike.
For a photographer, having their work exhibited within its walls places them within a much larger conversation about what a portrait can reveal, and what makes one worth looking at.
Behind “Drag Queen In Waiting” By Jan Mayo
The selected photograph, “Drag Queen in Waiting,” captures Letlet, a veteran performer at Manila’s O Bar, backstage before a show. “When I saw Letlet, one of the veteran queens, in full makeup but not yet dressed, I knew that was the scene I wanted to capture: the in-betweens,” Jan says.
Though unpublished as part of a previously commissioned project, the photograph has since traveled far beyond that backstage. Earlier this year, it was exhibited at Somerset House in London as part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition. After seeing the positive response, Jan later submitted the portrait to the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize, believing it presented international audiences with an image they rarely encountered: one encompassing “identity, performance, transformation, queerness, and being Filipino.”
There is a beautiful vulnerability to the moment Jan chose to preserve in a portrait. Letlet is neither out of drag nor fully dressed for the stage, but somewhere between the two. Rather than the finished performance presented to an audience, Mayo’s portrait asks us to look at the transformation still taking place, the person behind the show. For lens-based artists, this is where portraiture can go beyond mere likeness: in what a photographer notices, and the fleeting moment they choose to preserve.
The selection has also made Jan conscious of the practical barriers faced by photographers working from the Philippines. Longlisted photographers must send their exhibition pieces to London, he explains, meaning printing and international shipping costs can become another hurdle for artists from the Global South. “I hope this is not the first and last time a photographer from the Philippines exhibits in the National Portrait Gallery,” he says. “More than anything, this is a testament that we can actually compete and make it internationally.”
Photos courtesy of Jan Mayo
Frequently Asked Questions
Jan Mayo is a Filipino photographer and lens-based artist whose work explores portraiture, identity, beauty, and the relationship between people and place. His work has been exhibited at institutions including Somerset House in London and the National Museum of the Philippines.
Mayo’s photograph “Drag Queen in Waiting” was selected for the 2026 Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery. It is one of just 55 works chosen from nearly 4,000 international entries across 55 countries.
“Drag Queen in Waiting” portrays Letlet, a veteran drag performer at Manila’s O Bar, backstage before a show. Mayo photographed her in full makeup but not yet dressed, capturing what he describes as “the in-betweens” of the transformation.
The Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize, formerly the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize, is an international photography competition organized by the National Portrait Gallery. It celebrates contemporary photographic portraiture by established professionals, emerging photographers, and amateurs.
“Drag Queen in Waiting” will be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London from November 5, 2026 to January 17, 2027, as part of the 2026 Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize exhibition.
