New York —

“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 “ Life is Drag ,” 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

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