WOWlebrity and legendary nightlife photographer, Michael Fazakerley‘s exhibit Nightbirds just opened at the Stonewall Museum in Wilton Manors, Florida. with 150+ images of NYC’s club culture personalities of the LGBTQ scene.

There are early images of RuPaul, James St. James, Joey Arias, Lypsinka, Susanne Bartsch, Lady Bunny, Amanda Lepore, Quentin Crisp and SO many others. Michael said of the show,

“Planning and curating this show and its future gave me a new purpose. I am making provisions to leave my archives to Stonewall to live on and will work with them now to get it out there. All proceeds will go to their museum and library. I believe they are an important part of our history and will keep the integrity of my work… it’s a colorful, bold, graphic show and a labor of love that is part of our history.”

Fazakerley, born in Philadelphia and attended FIT in NYC, graduating in ’82, winning grant a from Andy Warhol and Bruce Weber while still in school. He started his own photo business doing model’s portfolios and various fashion around town.

In ’89, Fazakerley started a fanzine with illustrator Michael Economy, called Pansybeat that covered the gay scene. This year a book of all 5 issues with updated materials was published with 200 of Fazakerley’s images.

The peak of the HIV epidemic from ’86 to ’95 cast a long shadow over NYC and in ’90 Fazakerley himself was diagnosed with HIV. Today he’s a proud, long term survivor.

Fazakerley, now lives and works as a professional pet sitter, volunteers at the museum and is at work on a new book and a tour of Nightbirds, which is planned for LA, NY and Berlin.

The exhibit runs through January 20, 2019. For more info, go here.

Photo, Tina Paul

(Photos, Michael Fazakerly; via South Florida Gay News)