Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell, authors of acclaimed photography books Loving and Loving II, get muddy about what it means to build visibility when your history was never written. They have spent more than 25 years excavating and reconstructing a queer past the world tried to erase. Through 4000+ intimate photographs of men in love from 1850–1950, they’ve pieced together a lineage that proves queer love has always existed — even when it wasn’t documented. This episode is a conversation about erasure, resilience, and the power of finding yourself in the eyes of people who lived even a century ago. 

Bio: Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell are the couple behind the internationally celebrated Nini-Treadwell Collection, a 25-year archive of more than 4,000 photographs documenting romantic love between men from the 1850s to the 1950s. Texas natives who met in 1992, Hugh—formerly a longtime ballet academy owner and artistic director—and Neal—an art-trained creative with a career spanning apparel, cattle, and cosmetics—accidentally began collecting after discovering a single 1927 photo in a Dallas antique shop. Their groundbreaking books Loving and Loving 2 have reframed how queer history is seen and understood, revealing a lineage of tenderness, partnership, and resilience long erased from public record. Through exhibitions, talks, and their ongoing archival work, Hugh and Neal are committed to rescuing overlooked stories and proving what has always been true: queer love has existed everywhere, across every era, even when the world refused to acknowledge it. 

Hugh and Neal’s Social Media: @LovingByNealAndHugh, www.Loving1000.org

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Contributing Editors: Manthan Baldha, Sarah Webb (@SWAudioPost) and Drew King.

Filmed and recorded at @TheMalin in New York City.

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