Revision of Rahne Alexander's portfolio from Fri, 01/22/2021 - 00:57

About Rahne

Baltimore City

Rahne Alexander is an intermedia artist and writer from Baltimore, Maryland. She is a 2021 graduate of the Intermedia+Digital Arts MFA at UMBC, and a 2021 Baker Artist Prize Awardee. Her works in video, performance, music, and painting have been exhibited across the U.S. and around the world, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Tephra Institute of Contemporary… more

See 2021 $2,500 Baker Artist Award Winning Portfolio

View Rahne's Resume

I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You

"I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You" opened the year continuing as part of the Mary B. Howard Invitational: An Excellent Thought About A Quality Idea exhibit at the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art in Reston, VA. This piece was exhibited twice more in 2021 -- in a solo exhibition at The Shed, and as part of Spark IV: A New World? at Maryland Art Place.

"I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You" was developed for the Mary B. Howard Invitational: An Excellent Thought About A Quality Idea, curated by ‘sindikit and the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art as a reanimation of some of my oldest practices — stream-of-consciousness writing on “scrolls” (in actuality, commercial paper towels) and little mementos mori written for the artists and historical figures who had significantly moved me — with my newest: writing and painting on silk, a fabric of natural strength and transparency.

My first painted artwork, "I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You" is a manifesto of sorts, comprising catalyzing concepts and conclusions that have driven me as an artist, citizen, and woman. Presented across three 4’x’6’ silk scrolls, the text echoes aspects of drop cloths, battle flags, and notebooks and is intended to evoke self-doubt, erasure, reiteration, and the editorial hand.

I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You at The Shed

I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You on display at The Shed, Baltimore MD in April 2021
I Am The End of the Patriarchy and So Can You at Spark IV

The center panel of I Am The End of the Patriarchy and So Can You exhibited as part of Spark IV: A New World? at Maryland Art Place, Summer 2021
I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You

I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You on display at Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art, Reston VA
An Excellent Thought About a Quality Idea show postcard

The image in this postcard promotion for An Excellent Thought About a Quality Idea uses one of my early studies for I Am the End of the Patriarchy and So Can You.

Grey Area

"Grey Area" (2020) was created as a wearable merkin for Maryland Art Place's exhibition Merkin Dream, which opened in February 2020. "Grey Area" is a Rorschach blot merkin, sculpted from dryer lint and mounted on grey tights, which was created to confront the projections of Western genital anxiety, particularly regarding trans-identified people.

The still image, "Grey Cell Green," is a self-portrait modeling "Grey Area," was invited by Zoe Charlton and Tim Doud into the | sindikit' | Salon on the BMA website, another initiative launched by the BMA to support local galleries and artists in the wake of the pandemic. With the green screen background and the famous Rorschach iconography, "Grey Cell Green" is a confrontation of constant, prurient voyeurism endured by trans women and our genitals, which tends to reflect the projections of the viewer.

Grey Cell Green
Merkin Dream show flyer
Grey Area (two views)

Film & Video

Passed a nice milestone in 2021 in which my supercut video work was cited in Max Tohline's A Supercut of Supercuts: Aesthetics, Histories, Databases. Subsquently, Tohline published a list of the 20 Most Underrated Supercuts of All Time, and included my 2008 piece Equal+Opposite at number 11.

I also guest-hosted on several episodes of the Projection Booth podcast, including discussions of Witchhammer, The Mephisto Waltz, and Just One of the Guys. The Witchhammer episode was released as a bonus feature of the 2021 DVD release of the film, as a component of Severin Film's comprehensive box set All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror.

And, of course, two of my supercut video collages continued to be available via the BMA Screening Room.

2020
Two of my video collages, "Dude Descending a Staircase #1" (2019) and "Simoom" (2009) were invited for inclusion in the BMA Screening Room, the online video platform launched by the BMA to support the work of Baltimore artists in the wake of the pandemic.

"Dude Descending A Staircase #1" premiered in an exhibit during the International Conference of Chinese Computer Human Interaction, Xiamen, China in June 2019, and was created in direct response to the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Bret Kavanaugh in 2018. "Simoom, "which premiered at the BMA in 2009, is an interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe's first story, "MS. Found In A Bottle," and was commissioned by the 48 Hour Film Festival for their celebration of Poe's anniversary in 2009.

In the days immediately prior to the quarantine shutdown, I was honored to show work in a two-person retrospective (along with Kristen Anchor) in the Microcinema series curated by Stephanie Barber at Rhizome DC.

Equal+Opposite (2008) as the 11th most Underrated Supercut of All Time

Equal+Opposite (2008) as the 11th most Underrated Supercut of All Time
My commentary on WITCHHAMMER appears on Severin Film's comprehensive box set All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror.

In 2021, I guest-hosted on several episodes of the Projection Booth podcast, including discussions of Witchhammer, The Mephisto Waltz, and Just One of the Guys. The Witchhammer episode was released as a bonus feature of the 2021 DVD release of the film, as a component of Severin Film's comprehensive box set All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror.
Promotion for Rhizome DC Microcinema
BMA Screening Room login screen

In the Raw

In March I released an album of solo guitar and voice songs, 50'♀ In The Raw: Live from the Magpie Cage.

To celebrate, I performed a single album release show with Lady Hatchet & Jeff Waters at Zissimo's

Performing at Zissimo's in March 2023
Poster 50'♀ In The Raw release show with Lady Hatchet & Jeff Waters at Zissimo's

50’♀

2021
50’♀ only performed once in 2021, a streaming show with the Enoch Pratt Free Library's Tuesday Tunes series in January. I've got some exciting plans cooking for a summer 2022 show currently in the works.

I was honored to be named among Country Queer's roster of Trans Country Artists You Need To Know, and to cameo in the Gay Ole Opry's 10th Anniversary Special.

2020
While band shows dried up during the quarantine, my solo music project 50’♀ received many opportunities to perform streaming gigs. In all, I was able to perform more than a dozen streaming shows after the pandemic began. Local highlights include a feature-length set at the Enoch Pratt Free Library's Tuesday Tunes series, the annual Shakemore festival, Apartscape, and Mind on Fire's Virtual Variety show. Nationally, I was able to perform for Queer Country Quarterly (New York) and Gender Unbound, an annual celebration of trans art based in Austin, TX.

Additionally, I was invited to cover "Theia & Gaia," a song by my DC colleage Erin Frisby. My cover was released as a companion to her album release in September 2020. This recording was my first solo-produced recording since 2005.

50’♀ at Enoch Pratt Free Library's Tuesday Tunes, Jan 2021

50’♀ performed a streaming show with Enoch Pratt Free Library's Tuesday Tunes, Jan 2021
Country Queer named me among Trans Country Artists You Need To Know.png

I was honored to be named among Country Queer's roster of Trans Country Artists You Need To Know.
Still of my performance in the Gay Ole Opry's 10th Anniversary Special

I was honored to cameo in the Gay Ole Opry's 10th Anniversary Special in December 2021.
Theia & Gaia - Bandcamp screenshot

Bandcamp screenshot for my cover of Erin Frisby's "Theia & Gaia." https://erinfrisby.bandcamp.com/track/theia-and-gaia-50ft-woman

Publications

2023
Publications in 2023 included:
* "VFW Hall" in Flux (forthcoming in print in 2023)
* "Making Fajitas in Manasquan" in Beach Badge #1
* "You're Never Too Old To Throw Up In A Neptune Bathroom" in Beach Badge #2
* "Twilight For Us All" in Light Ekphrastic, Feb 2022
Ongoing articles in BmoreArt, Jennifer Magazine, and UMBC Magazine

2022
My chapbook, Heretic to Housewife, continued to sell its second pressing and provided opportunities for online literary events throughout 2021.

I was invited to be on faculty at the inaugural Tulsa Glitterary Writers Conference in 2021, where I presented a writing workshop entitled "Voice Exercises: Finding, Strengthening, and Refining the Writer's Voice." I also offered a reading from a cross section of my published works during the conference run.

This kicked off a number of literary events throughout 2021, including a reading and artist talk as part of Urban Ivy's anniversary celebration and a panel at OutWrite entitled "LGBQT+ Writers Reading the Apocalyptic News." I was also a guest panelist at the virtual version of Barrelhouse's annual Writers Connect conference, as part of the "Cross-Genre: Stay in Your Lane(s): Writing and Publishing in Multiple Genres" panel.

In October I joined Eleanor Whitney and Liz Flyntz at Red Emma's for a talk about issues summoned by Whitney's new book, Riot Woman: Using Feminist Values to Destroy the Patriarchy.

In November, the Enoch Pratt Free Library invited me to participate in their Book Chat with Pratt online interview series. I chatted with Lo Smith, with a focus on November as Trans Awareness Month, and the conversation was broadcast and archived on YouTube and Facebook Live.

Heretic to Housewife

My chapbook, Heretic to Housewife, continued to sell its second pressing and provided opportunities for online literary events throughout 2021.
Tulsa Glitterary Writers Conference digital ad

I was invited to be on faculty at the inaugural Tulsa Glitterary Writers Conference in 2021, where I presented a writing workshop entitled "Voice Exercises: Finding, Strengthening, and Refining the Writer's Voice." I also offered a reading from a cross section of my published works during the conference run.
Tulsa Glitterary Writers Conference digital ad

I was invited to be on faculty at the inaugural Tulsa Glitterary Writers Conference in 2021, where I presented a writing workshop entitled "Voice Exercises: Finding, Strengthening, and Refining the Writer's Voice." I also offered a reading from a cross section of my published works during the conference run.
Tulsa Glitterary Writers Conference digital ad

I was invited to be on faculty at the inaugural Tulsa Glitterary Writers Conference in 2021, where I presented a writing workshop entitled "Voice Exercises: Finding, Strengthening, and Refining the Writer's Voice." I also offered a reading from a cross section of my published works during the conference run.
OutWrite panel: LGBQT+ Writers Reading the Apocalyptic News

Literary events throuh 2021 included a reading and artist talk as part of Urban Ivy's anniversary celebration and a panel at OutWrite entitled "LGBQT+ Writers Reading the Apocalyptic News."
Barrelhouse's Writers Connect conference artwork

I was also a guest panelist at the virtual version of Barrelhouse's annual Writers Connect conference, as part of the "Cross-Genre: Stay in Your Lane(s): Writing and Publishing in Multiple Genres" panel.
Digital Ad for Riot Women event at Red Emma's

In October I joined Eleanor Whitney and Liz Flyntz at Red Emma's for a talk about issues summoned by Whitney's new book, Riot Woman: Using Feminist Values to Destroy the Patriarchy.
Rahne & Liz Flyntz discuss Riot Women at Red Emma's

In October I joined Eleanor Whitney and Liz Flyntz at Red Emma's for a talk about issues summoned by Whitney's new book, Riot Woman: Using Feminist Values to Destroy the Patriarchy. Instagram story screengrab from Michael Farley.
Book Chat with Pratt digital ad

In November, the Enoch Pratt Free Library invited me to participate in their Book Chat with Pratt online interview series. I chatted with Lo Smith, with a focus on November as Trans Awareness Month, and the conversation was broadcast and archived on YouTube and Facebook Live.

Conversations

Conversations have always figured into my artistic practice. In 2020, I only managed a couple, but both were revelatory experiences.

In February 2020, I had a public conversation with legendary Baltimore activist Louis Hughes at Bird in Hand in Charles Village. This conversation built off the article I had authored for OnCurating #42: -- What You Don’t Know About AIDS Could Fill A Museum: Curatorial Ethics and the Ongoing Epidemic in the 21st Century, and focused on the slippery nature of memory and the archive, particularly for marginalized populations.

I also had the opportunity to join a national panel of trans-identified artists, Imagining Transgender Cultural Production as Revolt. This panel was originally slated to be presented at American Studies Association annual meeting, which was to be held in Baltimore in November 2020. Colleagues at Northwestern University converted this event to an online streaming event increased accessibility to this crucial conversation in a big way.