Rachael Rakes works across curating, writing, editing, film programming, and pedagogy. Her practice engages moving image, documentary experimentation, and alternative ethnographies, often through long-form research and collaboration. She co-organises Counter-Encounters with Laura Huertas Millán and Onyeka Igwe, focusing on rethinking ethnographic form and knowledge production. Her editorial and critical work spans books, journals, and catalogues, grounding aesthetic inquiry in political and social history.

Rakes was Artistic Director of the 12th Seoul Mediacity Biennale for 2025, Editor at Large at Verso Books, Contributing Editor at INFRASONICA, Committee Member of the New York Film Festival, and co-curator of Art of the Real. Previous positions include Curator of Public Practice at BAK and Head Curator of the Curatorial Programme at De Appel. She is co-editor of Toward the Not-Yet and Practice Space, with writing in Artforum, Art-Agenda, and The Village Voice.

She serves on the boards of ReCenter, JaJaJaNeeNeeNee, and World Records Journal.