Bushwig celebrated its ninth edition in New York this month, in September, the ninth month of the year 2019. Coincidence? Perhaps. But Document took the possibly meaningless recurrence of the number nine as a sign that we should dispense nine disposable cameras to eight extremely generous queens and one pop star set to perform at Horrorchata and Babes Trust’s annual and ever-growing two-day festival. (Bushwig Berlin is in its second year, and the event has had a smaller presence in other cities, including New Orleans, for Bushwig South, and Los Angeles.) Shockingly(!), only four of those cameras came back, as well as one from Document Journal photo editor James Emmerman, who was on site at Knockdown Center, Bushwig’s venue for the last four years.

Patti Spliff, Tyler Ashley (The Dauphine of Bushwick), Slayyyter, and Panthera Lush: We thank you. And we also thank the other queens because we get it, you were busy, you didn’t have any pockets, and disposable cameras are both bulky and small, hard to fit anywhere and easy to lose. No really it’s fine. Okay? Aside from the queens themselves, the photos feature LadyBunny, founder of Wigstock, a sort of precursor festival to Bushwig; Charlene, the beloved Brooklyn performer and a surprise fifth featured photographer on this series (Tyler shared his camera); and Horrorchata herself. Take a look.

Surviving cameras courtesy of James Emmerman, Patti Spliff, Tyler Ashley, Slayyyter, Panthera.