In 1974, Andy Warhol completed his most lucrative commission, Ladies and Gentlemen, a series of over 200 striking portraits of African American and Latina drag queens and trans women. The subjects were not named when the work debuted in Italy in 1975. Now over 40 years later researchers at The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts have successfully identified all of Warhol’s subjects in the series, including the iconic transgender performer and activist, Marsha ‘Pay it No Mind’ Johnson.

Come to the Pittsburgh premiere of Happy Birthday, Marsha!, followed by a discussion about visibility, representation, and authorship with filmmakers Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel, and moderated by local advocate Ciora Thomas. Happy Birthday, Marsha! imagines the iconic transgender performer and activist, Marsha ‘Pay it No Mind’ Johnson in the hours before the 1969 anti-policing riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. The film blends documentary storytelling with historical fiction to counter the endemic erasure of trans women of color from narratives of political resistance.

Art in Context: Visibility and Erasure takes place on Friday, November 30 at 7:00 pm in the theater of  The Andy Warhol Museum.