Nelson Sullivan
John Nelson Sullivan (March 15, 1948 – July 4, 1989) was an American videographer who chronicled life in Downtown Manhattan’s arts and club scene from 1983 until his death.[1] Viewed today, Sullivan’s video record of his life represents a pre-Internet form of vlogging, while his frequently used technique of turning the camera to face himself clearly anticipates the modern selfie.Richards recalled, “We were both clocked as sissy/queer early on, which didn't make for a pleasant school experience.” However, he noted that even their small town offered opportunities for cultural advancement: Sullivan’s mother secured teachers to instruct him in art and the piano, and both boys were well read.[4] Larry Tee, Sullivan’s friend and one of his last roommates, recalled in 2021 that the “dilapidated turn-of-the-century building” was “made from pieces of old ships, and thus you could see through holes in the floor to the floor below, in certain places.”[2] In 1981, Dick Richards, James Bond, and Potsy Duncan used newly available home video equipment to create a weekly television program, The American Music Show, which was cablecast on Atlanta’s public access television channel.And he taped long walks with his rescue dog Blackout through the sleepy predawn streets after nights of clubbing, and evening strolls along the Hudson River piers as the sun set.[4] According to Larry Tee, Sullivan’s videos document “a generation of forgotten drag queens, art stars, performance artists, cultural revolutionaries, and the local color of New York of that time.John Sex, Manic Panic's Tish and Snooky, Ethyl Eichelberger, Wendy Wild, Dianne Brill, Tabboo, Chicklet, The Boy Bär Beauties, Patricia Field and Rebecca Field, Sister Dimension, Julie Jewels, Rudolf, Dean Johnson, Details magazine’s Stephen Saban, The World’s Arthur Weinstein, DJ Anita Sarko, Susanne Bartsch — the cameos go on and on.”[2] “What Nelson was doing was entirely unique,” Richards said in 2013.The perspective then became what a person would see going along with Nelson somewhere.”[4] In 1987, Richards helped arrange for RuPaul, Larry Tee and Lahoma van Zandt to move from Atlanta to New York and become Sullivan’s roommates.Looking back, he seemed more than little haunted, as if he knew he was living on borrowed time.”[2] In the summer of 1989, with advice from Richards, Sullivan decided to create his own public access show to air in New York.“I would like for my first cable show to be a memorial to my friend Christina.”[7] Late in the afternoon on July 3, Sullivan recorded a video in which he and artist Bill Moye walked Blackout along the Westside Piers.However, despite the presence of selections on YouTube, the full collection’s ultimate survival was far from certain, as the original tapes sat boxed in Richards’ and Goldman’s century-old house in Atlanta’s Inman Park.