Merciless Diaries. The ‘80s: Queer. Nelson Sullivan

Nelson Sullivan, a New York artist, died in 1989. During his lifetime, he tirelessly filmed the people and events around him, without editing. Nelson used a hand-held camera and turned his wide-angle lens on himself or whatever he chose to show, sketching a chronicle of the geography of queer artists in the Big Apple in the eighties. What makes his very large body of work, still awaiting discovery, so singular is not just his mastery, virtuosity and his almost carnal fusion with the camera, but his acid, ironic look at an entertaining world that is also full of worries and sudden disappearances.

Monologue for TV Show, Nelson Sullivan. USA, 1989, video, 10 min.

Nelson Goes to the Red Zone, Nelson Sullivan. USA, 1989, video, 29 min.

Gay Day Parade, Nelson Sullivan. USA, 1989, video, 26 min.

Walk to the East Village, Nelson Sullivan. USA, 1989, video, 24 min.