"Sparked by a fortuitous encounter with New York drag icon and community organizer Untitled Queen, the project has grown alongside Rampleman's deepening immersion in the community to become an expansive celebration of drag in all its forms-from the spectrum of gender expression to experimental art and activism. At a moment when LGBTQIA+ spaces and drag as an art form are increasingly under attack, Life is Drag becomes more than documentation: it is a collective act of celebration and defiance, showcasing irrepressible performers who challenge convention, rewrite the rules, and embody the range of gender expression."
"the largest digital archive of US drag performance - a living history of over 370 performances by more than 200 visionary drag artists, chronicling not only transformative artistry but also vital resistance, visibility, and joy,"
"a poetic synthesis of performance, costume, sculpture, sound, and identity, and captures numbers by each performer in veritable, full-body high definition videos framed consistently each time and showcased with minimal, if any, editing."
SoMad will feature Life is Drag from September 18–December 18, 2025, presenting a six-year project by Rachel Rampleman that archives over 370 US drag performances by more than 200 artists. The project emphasizes neo-burlesque trends and documents drag as a synthesis of performance, costume, sculpture, sound, and identity. Video portraits capture performers in full drag in high-definition, consistently framed, minimally edited footage alongside structured interviews. Featured performers include Amygdala, Divina GranSparkle, Julie J, and King Molasses. The archive foregrounds drag as creative expression, community visibility, resistance, and joy amid increasing attacks on LGBTQIA+ spaces.
Read at Advocate.com
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