Ace Lehner is an interdisciplinary artist, art historian, and visual studies scholar specializing in critical engagement with identity and representation; history, theory, and criticism of contemporary art; photography; queer and trans art history and theory; and critical race studies. 

Lehner recently published their first book, From Self-Portrait to Selfie: Contemporary Art and Self-Representation in the Social Media Age (MDPI Books, Basel Switzerland). and has a chapter forthcoming on trans selfies in the book Visual Culture Approaches to the Selfie (Routledge). Lehner is currently the guest editor of the first-ever issue of Art Journal dedicated to trans visual culture, which will be published in December 2021. And they will chair a panel at the College Art Association conference (March 2022) entitled "The Problem with the "Trans Tipping Point": A Critical Look at Trans Visual Culture Today." 

Lehner's artistic practice often embraces collaboration and utilizes photography, video, performance, and installation to mine the complex relationship between representation and the constitution of identities. Lehner's work will be featured at the International Center of Photography in New York in Winter 2022. Their current social practice installation piece Barbershop: The Art of Queer Failure will appear in a solo exhibition at Practice Gallery in Philadelphia in June of 2022. 

Lehner completed their Ph.D. in History of Art and Visual Culture at the University of California (Santa Cruz) in 2020. Their dissertation was entitled Trans Representations: Contemporary Art Photography and Non-Binary Visual Theory. Lehner holds an MFA/MA in Fine Art Photography and Visual Studies from California College of the Arts. In addition, Lehner has worked as a museum educator for over a decade and piloted The Museum of Modern Art's first-ever queer tour programming.