Large Photograph of Hunter Reynolds, a.k.a. Patina du Prey, Wearing the Memorial Dress

(n. p.): (n. d.), circa 1994. Approximately 17 x 11 inches, in an 18 x 24 inch glass-fronted black frame. Not removed from the frame, but in Very Good condition or better as far as we can tell.

A rare original photograph of Hunter Reynolds performing in a museum setting as Patina du Prey while wearing his famed Memorial Dress. The dress, a black satin gown printed with the names of 25,000 AIDS victims taken from the AIDS Quilt catalog, was first debuted in Boston in 1993. Given that images we find online of Reynolds/du Prey in this dress show him without a beard, we speculate that this is from a later exhibition. The photograph appears to have been taken by a visitor to the museum, rather than being a staged portrait authorized by Reynolds.

Hunter Reynolds (1959-2022) was a gay man and an artist who contracted HIV in the late 1980s, and who was active in ACT UP in New York City. He began doing performance art in drag as Patina du Prey in 1989. He performed in the Memorial Dress at museums and galleries around the country in 1993 and 1994, including as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Stonewall uprising.

Not located in OCLC or online repositories.