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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Huge archive of drag culture takes on new urgency in today’s
political climate
Elyssa Goodman, CNN
Updated:
5:00 AM EDT, Sat September 20, 2025
Source: CNN
“The first time I saw God was at Bizarre,” says visual artist
Rachel Rampleman.
She is referring to the drag artist God Complex and the now-defunct
Brooklyn bar Bizarre. Inspired by the performer’s background as a
dancer after seeing him live, Rampleman committed him to the screen for
“,” a project wherein she films drag performances and conducts
interviews with participants about their drag philosophies. A new
exhibition showing the project’s latest works opens at New York’s
SoMad art space this week, and in one of the featured videos, God
Complex dances, lost in reverie, wearing a skin-toned gown twinkling
with beads.
The many artists Rampleman has chronicled in “Life is Drag” reveal
the multitudes of what the art form is and can be. Since 2019,
Rampleman has captured more than 200 artists and 370 shows, making it
the largest known digital archive of drag performance in the US.
The latest videos and portraits are the product of her artist residency
at SoMad, a self-described “femme and queer led, independent art
space” in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. In these new works,
Rampleman chose to spotlight some drag artists who are community
organizers, producers, advocates and activists, as a response to US
President Donald Trump’s re-election. The importance of the project
then extends beyond just the chronicle of a performance, it also
becomes the validation of existence. In Rampleman’s project, the
subjects can’t be erased from history.
“(It) was important to work with the people we felt were the most
inspiring, and to do whatever we could to magnify and amplify their
message and their voices,” she said. The people she’s worked with
range from community organizer Julie J to producer Amygdala to King
Molasses, the newly crowned winner of the US reality series “King of
Drag.” In each interview, performers advocate for themselves and
their art. “My presence in the world is non-negotiable. I am
released, so there’s really nothing you can do to stop me,” King
Molasses said in an interview Rampleman shot. “Drag is not, nor has
it ever been, something that is interested in domination. It is not
something that is interested in manifest destiny. It just is something
that is,” Julie J said in hers.
For someone with such a vast collection of recorded drag performances,
it may be surprising that Rampleman hadn’t actually seen one until
2019, when models in drag walked a friend’s fashion show. Rampleman
had been exploring gender identity in her work, filming the all-female
Mötley Crüe cover band Girls Girls Girls and the female bodybuilder
Tazzie Colomb, among others. After her first drag encounter, she
quickly shifted focus. She was hooked, and began venturing out to
countless performances, “seeing what I thought was basically the most
interesting art being made,” Rampleman said.
As the artist attended more shows, she noticed that if performers
eventually left drag, there would be little to no record of their work.
But knowing venues had less than ideal lighting conditions, Rampleman
began the project in her own Brooklyn studio and then at several artist
residencies across America. It becomes clear in looking at all aspects
through Rampleman’s archive that the possibilities of drag
performance — be it to poetry or Prince, Furby videos or Fleetwood
Mac — are completely, delightfully unlimited.
In a cultural moment where many people are introduced to drag through
“RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a project like Rampleman’s not only
captures an art form known for its ephemerality but shows us just how
broad the scope of its artistry truly is. In “Life is Drag,”
there’s not one particular look, and that is part of its power. In
the same way there’s not one way to paint, there’s also not just
one way to do drag. And while Rampleman is drawn to more artistic,
avant-garde performances, there’s also no shortage of
pageant-inspired numbers and gorgeous evening gowns in her wider
archive, either. “The goal of the project is also just to be as
inclusive and diverse in regards to who I work with as possible,” she
said.
From now until mid-December, SoMad will exhibit Rampleman’s new
works. There are video installations on the building’s second floor,
over two dozen recorded performances playing across six monitors
suspended from the ceiling; interviews will run on a large screen in
the back of the venue and large portraits of participating drag
artists, wearing everything from sequin tuxedos to baby doll dresses,
will be exhibited on the fourth floor.
In America’s current cultural climate, Rampleman sees “Life is
Drag” as a way to combat queer and trans erasure. “I feel like
doing the opposite of erasure is documentation,” she said, hoping the
project can get out into the world as much as possible and “provide
inspiration for people who are in red states, especially in smaller
cities or towns.” While Rampleman finds the Trump administration’s
policies against LGBTQ+ communities “depressing, disappointing,
nauseating, appalling,” not to mention the sentiments of , she has
hope for a brighter future.
“I think the reason that I started and then have continued to work on
this project is because the people that I find in this community are
just the most extraordinary human beings on the planet, and their
creativity and their empathy and their generosity is unparalleled,”
she said. “Seeing this lack of empathy, this lack of understanding
(in American culture), I think doing this project keeps me
going…I’m not sure how optimistic to allow myself to be but being
around these performers makes me more hopeful.”
Rampleman challenges viewers of the project to reevaluate the way they
present themselves to the world, and to be open-minded. “Drag artists
definitely want to stand out, and they encourage other people to do the
same. And I think that if more people are less repressed and more
self-actualized, then they are happier,” she said. “I hope that
people see these performers, and it makes them realize drag is awesome.
It’s not this thing to be feared.”
is showing at New York’s SoMad until December 18.
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