The exhibition showcases Badertscher's collection of photographs that he made of male prostitutes from the Baltimore area between the early seventies until recently. Written on the borders of each photograph is a brief history of whom the picture is of. It is the combination of these images along with learning a piece of their story that we the viewer are pulled into the lives of these lost boys.

"Danny L. (born 1982) has been petty much on the streets, using drugs + hustling men. Probably from the age of 10 or 12. Today, this is his sole employment. He has had throughout the years, several girlfriends (some also on heroin) and two sons, one born in 2000 and one in 2001. Despite this arrangement, Danny freely admits his bisexuality and his attraction to men and some male peers. Immature, impractical and emotionally fragile, he has lived at countless locations since 15 and has attempted suicide a number of times, particularly when his girlfriend threatens to leave him.

Sexuality is totally fluid and he prefers older men who will ensure continuing shelter and drugs."
-Danny Summer 2001, Silver gelatin print, 2001, 10" x 8"

And it is here, inside this dark vacuum we find ourselves peering into, that we truly (perhaps for the first time for many) understand what it must be like to be in their shoes. This frightening reality check gives us a completely different perspective on what it must be like to be a hustler, and crushes any superficial fantasies one mind may have had. 

Yet with this fresh consciousness, we must also examine the nature and content of these photographs. As amazingly honest and telling these photographs are, it is also important to understand the motives of the artist.

Badertscher makes it quite clear, through his photographs, that he has a sexual interest in young boys. It does not take a great imagination to presume that he was in fact a customer of these boys. This having been said, it is by no means meant to render the boys victims of Badertscher. Rather because of circumstances of varying degrees, these boys sold sex for money or drugs, and Amos Badertscher was their client who also paid the boys to pose nude for photographs. Under this light, which is non-art historical and non-interpretative, we might be able to view these photographs differently. The question we must ask ourselves is; Are these photographs Art or child pornography? While pondering this question also take note that Badertscher never had an exhibition until 1995. 20 plus years of photographs which were never intended to be shared, never meant to illuminate an unknowing public. This fact alone might lay bare Badertscher’s motives in some people's minds.

It is my belief nonetheless, that his collection of photographs are a chronicle of a world invisible to mainstream society, but even more so a vehicle of self-fulfillment and sexual domination for Badertscher over his subjects.

But the condemnation of Amos Badertscher is not my objective. Unwittingly he shares with us the secret sexual lives of a gay subculture. These boys were and are products of a society which deems them perverse. Desperate and alone these boys peddled their young bodies for drugs nobody cared if they used, they sold their innocence for comforts no one offered. Amos Badertscher bared witness to their lives (as well as giving them means to survive upon) and if it were not for him, their faces and their stories would have faded into oblivion. It is through his pictures that we see the face of the hopeless.

This exhibition has the power to enlighten the ignorant, yet at the terrible cost of excepting with complete responsibility and understanding what the photographs really are of.

Leslie-Lohman Gallery
127-B Prince Street, New York, NY
www.leslielohman.org