Red Emma’s

Across several decades, self-taught photographer Amos Badertscher (1936–2023) made thousands of photographs of a liminal queer world: young male sex workers, drag performers, trans pioneers, and Baltimore, Maryland’s inclusive, ribald nightlife. The encounters with these marginalized figures helped Badertscher understand his own queer identity and reveal a confident body of work that stakes out an important corner of queer art and aesthetics.

Made between the 1960s and early 2000s, the photographs featured here constitute an unparalleled chronicle of a culture of the era particular not only to Badertscher’s hometown, but universally identifiable, one which began to fade with the movement of LGBTQ+ rights and liberation. The hundreds of images are accompanied by Badertscher’s writings about the history and experiences of his subjects, further illuminating the intimate inner lives of people who were frequently dismissed, feared, and objectified by mainstream culture. AMOS BADERTSCHER: IMAGES AND STORIES is a landmark introduction to a figure who is now finally receiving his due as a major twentieth-century portraitist and chronicler of queer subculture.

Edited by Hunter O’Hanian, Jonathan D. Katz, and Beth Saunders, with essays by James Smalls, Joseph Plaster, Rafael Alvarez, and Theo Gordon

An independent consultant and artist working on a variety of art projects, Hunter was the Executive Director of the Stonewall National Museum and Archive in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Previously, he was the head of the College Art Association, the largest professional association supporting art historians and visual artists in the world. Prior to that, he was the founding Director of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, the only art museum devoted exclusively to artwork that speaks to the LGBTQ experience.

Rick Wilson moved to Baltimore City in 1976 at age 18, and, at legal drinking age, he was one of the lucky ones that experienced the Disco scene and the amazing Gay club life of that era. In the 1980’s he became a friend and model for Amos Badertscher through the night life scene. Many of Amos's models during that time were people that Rick crossed paths with or knew. He lives a quieter life now but the music still plays. He enjoys the occasional club night and is a member of Fluid Movement Swim Performance and Maryland Bonsai Association.