Rae Threat is a queer Thai-American artist, photographer, filmmaker, and activist. She is renowned for her alternative approach to photography, stemmed from her desire to invert stereotypes and challenge views. She is a member of the BIPOC Adult Industry Collective and a Collective Leader at Level Ground.
Rae’s recent work includes #TheUntitledBodyProject, a 3D gallery show created as the 2018 artist-in-residence at Level Ground. She was a featured contributor in the Spring 2020 issue of Duke University Press’s Transgender Studies Quarterly: Trans Pornography, appeared in the season two premiere of the Epix docu-series Sex Life, was a guest on Nico Tortorella’s Space Between The Sheets, and is an adult industry event photographer for LA Weekly.
Rae was the first photographer to feature adult industry stars in lookbooks for skatewear clothing line Mishka (Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2014). Past projects also include producing and photographing Fleshbot’s iconic photoset featuring genderqueer advocate Jiz Lee and Stoya (2011), Mad Decent Records’ first fashion lookbook featuring Skrillex and Diplo (2014), and a design collaboration with Actual Pain Clothing (2013).
Rae has exhibited in galleries internationally from L.A. and San Francisco to Turkey, Vienna, and Berlin. Her first curated art show, “ALT to the ALT”, which featured artists Eon McKai, Kimberly Kane, Carlos Batts, and Steak Mtn, was a highlighted exhibit with Month of Photography LA (2011). Her street photography work with GroupLA was a featured showcase at the LA ART Show (2009) and installation at the San Diego Lafayette Hotel (2013) before being archived as a permanent exhibit at the USC Library (Los Angeles).
As a filmmaker, Rae explores challenging views and thought-provoking subjects. Her projects include a feature film documentary about Thailand’s Trans activists and their fight for equal rights, co-producing a Bye Felipe / Change.org video campaign to help end unsolicited dick pics on the internet, and exhibiting in an art show advocating for sex workers’ rights at SOMArts in San Francisco.
Grants Awarded:
2020 United State Artists Fund
2020 Women’s Center For Creative Work Artist Fund
2018 Level Ground Artist-in-Residence
Speaker Events:
2019 Racism in Media Panel, Los Angeles Public Library (Expo Park)
2019 Framing Agnes: Q&A Presentation, Los Angeles Public Library (Expo Park)
2019 Queering Experimental Art Panel, Los Angeles Public Library (Expo Park)
2019 #grlcvlt Body Image Panel, Space15Twenty, Los Angeles
2018 Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Past Exhibits:
2019 Failed Films Art Show, Los Angeles
2019 “Self-Center” (Art Installation), Evidence Film Studios, Los Angeles
2019 #grlcvlt Body Image Solo Art Show, Space15Twenty, Los Angeles
2019 Thicc Strip, Los Angeles
2018 #TheUntitledBodyProject 3D Art Show (Solo Art Show), Unit C, Los Angeles
2017 Failed Films Art Show, San Francisco
2017 “59”, Space 15 Twenty, Los Angeles
2017 Level Ground Film Festival, Pasadena
2017 “We’re Still Working: The ART of Sex Work”, SOMArts, San Francisco
2016 Failed Films Art Show (Fall), San Francisco
2016 “Queerly Beloved”, El Rio, San Francisco (Part of SF Pride Week)
2014 Permanent Collection (Group SC), Huntington Memorial Library, Pasadena
2014 LGBT Dynasty, Gallerie Sparta, West Hollywood
2014 Solo Exhibit, Private Island, Los Angeles
2013 Lafayette Hotel, Art Installation (GroupSC), San Diego
2013 Moviemento (Berlin, Germany)
2013 “TPCC”, ArtshareLA, Los Angeles
2011 “VEREIN FÜR POLITISCHE KUNST”, Palais Kabelwerk (Vienna, Austria)
2010 Brief Space, The Metreon, San Francisco
2010 “Autumn Lights”, Pershing Square, Los Angeles
2010 “L.A.ndscapes”, Los Angeles Center for Digital Arts, Los Angeles
2010 “GroupSC”, Gallery Skart, Santa Monica
2010 “Trade Show”, Zirrat Bankasi Gallery (Ankara, Turkey)
2010 FADA LA Art Show, LA Convention Center
2009 Isik University Gallery, Turkey Bienniel Art Fair (Istanbul, Turkey)
2009 “LA as Subject” Permanent Archive Collection, USC Library, Los Angeles
2009 “GroupLA”, Gallery Skart, Santa Monica
Curated Shows:
2011 “ALT to the ALT”, Show Cave, Los Angeles
Select Clients & Tears:
Actual Pain Clothing
Adler Integrated
Aerial7 Headphones
Coachella Magazine
Comedy Central
Feided Record Label
Fleshbot
Gawker Media
GBY Beauty
LA Weekly
Mad Decent Records
Marie Claire Magazine
Mishka NYC Clothing
Mixmag Magazine
Out Magazine
PUNY Entertainment
Play It Down Records
Richardson Magazine
Sundance Film Institute
Urb Magazine
Wicked Pictures