"Life is Drag" project fundraiser

Rachel Rampleman is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

DRAG IS ART - and LIFE IS DRAG.

And the project Life is Drag (lifeisdrag.com), THE LARGEST ARCHIVE OF DRAG IN AMERICA, NEEDS YOUR HELP TODAY!

Please take this opportunity to contribute and support this incredibly important archive at a pivotal moment in history when drag is most under attack. I need your help today to preserve and expand this epic project.

Your donations empower me to continue to support local drag communities and create a record of their powerful and incomparable artistry for people around the world to see and be inspired by - now and in the years to come.

Hello! I am Rachel Rampleman (green arrow) - a video artist born in Cincinnati, OH and based in NYC. My project Life is Drag has become my life's purpose. I have worked with over 200 drag performers and documented more than 350 performances and interviews over the last 5+ years. Through my collaborations with these singular and innovative artists, I have learned that drag is a poetic synthesis of painting, sculpture, sound and performance. Drag is also all about self-discovery, transformation, permission, actualization, and ultimately - radical self-expression.

With drag presently threatened in cities all over the United States, I believe that now, more than ever, we must share these bold, brilliant, and binary pushing performances to ensure exposure for artists and ease of access for those in communities that are hostile to this vital and important art form.

I am a one-person production team - handling all research, curation, communication, lighting, shooting, editing, interviewing, archive building, residency outreach, and more. As of January-June, 2025, I am doing my 3rd residency in NYC, and after that I will be bringing this project to Nebraska (confirmed!), as well as other conservative-leaning states where drag bans have been proposed or are already in effect (like Kentucky, Missouri, and North Carolina) in order to work with and within the communities that urgently need this art most — and you can help make that happen.

Having self-funded this project since its inception, my goal is now to raise $10,000 - to upgrade my video camera, to replace lighting equipment damaged during my last residency, and to help cover travel expenses to places where the recent explosion of virulent anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment and legislation have been most felt by drag artists. Help protect and support drag and drag artists wherever you are by contributing to the archive today.

PLEASE DONATE - EVERY CONTRIBUTION HELPS, NO MATTER THE AMOUNT!

AND RECEIVE A PRINTED VIDEO STILL OF YOUR CHOOSING IF YOU DONATE $50+ !

Life is Drag - video stills

Sample video stills below (all stills on view via the above link):

Please check out the links and photos below to see behind the scenes production shots, performer interviews and video portraits, panel and exhibition documentation - and to learn more general overall info about the project:

Life is Drag - video portraits (the performance documentation)

Life is Drag - more info about the archive/project

What is Drag interview compilation (short video)

Life is Drag residency in Cincinnati at Wave Pool