Brady Pappas (they/she) is a transgender artist based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Through photography, they explore queer identity and community in small-town and rural spaces, with a particular focus on South Central Pennsylvania.
Pappas is best known for Tulle Queer, an ongoing portrait series and annual Pride Month exhibition that began in 2022. Blending elements of fashion and portrait photography, the project celebrates the lives and legacies of LGBTQ+ people across the 717 region. Using tulle fabric as a recurring visual motif, the portraits create a vibrant meditation on chosen family, visibility, and queer resilience.
Pappas’ work has been exhibited throughout Pennsylvania and has developed a growing audience online, both for their art and for content surrounding their journey on HRT and their experiences in a T4T relationship. Since 2022, they have served as the resident photographer and digital producer for High Fever, one of the region’s only LGBTQ+ nightlife spaces. Alongside Tulle Queer, documenting the underground queer scene at bars, drag shows, and dance floors across Pennsylvania has become a central part of Pappas’ practice. Together, these bodies of work function as both an archive and a celebration, centering queer joy in places that are often overlooked.
In 2024, Pappas began work on Amish Country Queer, a documentary film project about the LGBTQ+ community in Lancaster. The film follows Brady as they navigate queer life with their chosen family while documenting a thriving local drag scene in a region more often associated with tradition than transformation. The project currently includes an award-winning 13-minute short film, with a feature-length version in development.
Press
Lancaster Online:'Tulle Queer' Celebrates Local LGBTQ+ Community
Local Wolves Magazine Spring 2024 Fearless Issue
Lancaster Changemakers Collective:In Conversation with Brady Pappas
Fox 43:Tulle Queer Photo Exhibition Celebrate LGBTQ+ Community
Fox 43: 'Amish Country Queer' finds LGBTQ+ community in unexpected places
For inquiries, contact brady@bradypappas.photography
about
“In front of their lens, everyone is a muse, everyone feels empowered, everyone feels like themselves...”
TULLE QUEER
ABOUT
TULLE
QUEER
ABOUT TULLE QUEER
ABOUT
TULLE
QUEER
ABOUT TULLE QUEER
“What if rural communities looked less like stereotypical strife, and a lot more like sheer joy. These portraits tell exactly that…”
QUEER NIGHTLIFE IS SACRED
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Explore My Nightlife Portfolio
★ Resident Photographer & Digital Producer, High Fever (Lancaster, PA), since 2022.
★ Created the Instagram filters “Disposable” and “Good Days,” which have collectively received 2.3M saves and 203M impressions.
★ Recipient of the Rising Star Award from the LGBT Center of Central PA (October 2022).
★ Recognized as a “History Maker” by the York County History Center (July 2024).
★ Social Media Manager for dapperQ’s New York Fashion Week show at the Brooklyn Museum (since September 2024).
★ Tulle Queer exhibited at seven galleries across South Central Pennsylvania since its debut in June 2022.
★ Presenter, LGBT Center of Central PA’s 2024 GSA Summit, speaking with queer youth leaders.
highlights
“Brady’s work helps us realize how art can forge powerful connections with our hometowns and the people around us.”
Amish Country Queer
Because Queer Joy Belongs Everywhere
“Amish Country Queer” is a documentary that challenges expectations and tells the story of queer joy in small-town America.
★ Best Documentary at Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival
★ Best Documentary at Appalachian Queer Film Festival
★ Best Documentary at the Red Rose Film Festival
@bradypappas
@bradypappas
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