Canadian photographer Marcus Leatherdale was BOTD in 1952. Born in Montréal, Quebec, he moved to New York City in 1978 to study art. He became the lover and muse of Robert Mapplethorpe, who photographed him frequently, and later worked for Mapplethorpe’s patron and lover Sam Wagstaff. Leatherdale became the unofficial photographer of New York’s nightclub scene, creating stylised portraits of celebrities including Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Divine, Leigh Bowery, Jodie Foster and Kathy Acker. In the 1990s, he moved to India, producing extensive portrait work in Banaras and Chottanagpur. In 1979, he married dominatrix and brothel madam Claudia Summers, largely for visa purposes, though they remained lifelong friends and collaborators. He was in a 20-year relationship with make-up artist Jorge Serio until Serio’s death in 2021. Leatherdale committed suicide in 2022, aged 69.