The AIDS pandemic began in the early 1980s and brought with it a surge of emotions from the public: they were afraid, angry, fearful and defiant. The arrival of AIDS also brought with it a condemnation of the LGBT community. These emotions, along with the view on the LGBT community, paved the way for a new generation of artists. Artists involved in AIDS activist organizations had the ideology that while art could never save lives as science could, it may be able to deliver a message. Art of the AIDS crisis typically sought to make a sociopolitical statement, stress the medical impact of the disease, or express feelings of longing and loss. The ideologies were present in conceptions of art in the 1980s and are still pertinent to reception of art today as well. Elizabeth Taylor, for example, spoke at a benefit for AIDS involving artwork, emphasizing its importance to activism in that "art lives on forever". This comment articulates the ability of artwork from this time to teach and impact contemporary audiences, post-crisis. This page examines the efforts of artists, art collectives, and art movements to make sense of such an urgent pandemic in American society.
Public and collective artistic AIDS activism
Individual artistry of the AIDS crisis often was often found in museums or art galleries, in the spaces that only the economically and socially privileged could benefit from their messages. Artistic and Activist Collectives were meant to reach the general public, providing a space to build community, mourn, and spread education about the AIDS epidemic in a much more prolific manner.
One example would be the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, a large quilt begun in 1987 containing thousands of panels that commemorate those living with or those who have died of AIDS. The quilt is composed of panels of many colors and patterns, some somber and dark, others vibrant, and it tells no narrative other than remembrance. Each panel commemorates an individual or group who suffered from AIDS, although some individuals have several panels dedicated to them and others have simply a first name, a familial or relationship-related nickname, or "anonymous." In June 2006, the quilt commemorated approximately 83,900 names, although the NAMES Project pointed out that the thousands of names represented less than a quarter of all U.S. AIDS deaths, and an even smaller percentage for the total number of AIDS-related deaths worldwide.Blair, Carole, and Neil Michel. “The AIDS Memorial Quilt and the Contemporary Culture of Public Commemoration.” Rhetoric and Public Affairs 10, no. 4 (2007): 595–626.
The National AIDS Memorial Grove, which can be found in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, was first conceived by a group of local individuals in 1988. The AIDS epidemic had been devastating to San Francisco, and the group desired a tranquil environment in which to mourn healthily. Work began at the site of the de Lavveaga Dell in 1991, and in 1996, Nancy Pelosi led the United States Congress in passing the National AIDS Memorial Grove Act of 1996, which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The site has been cared for by hundreds of volunteers and a city gardener. The Grove houses a flat concrete circle on the ground, intended to be engraved with the names of those who suffer from AIDS. This act of memorializing is participatory and open for visitors to take part in. In 2011, Andy Abrahams Wilson and Tom Shepard created a documentary about the process of creating the Grove, discussing the contest for a potential design and the mixed responses the Board of Directors felt to them. Other responses to the Grove have been less positive, including tagging, graffiti, and vandalizing.
Gran Fury, begun in 1988, the artistic committee within ACT UP, was an anonymous collective designed to create artistic media about the AIDS epidemic. The collective functioned as an anonymous group because it took emphasis away from any individual and reinforced the idea of collective efforts towards ending the crisis. Gran Fury's mission was to bring a close to the epidemic, primarily through bringing to light the issues that society grappled with, such as homophobia and discrimination of people with AIDS (PWA). The collective brought art into the public sphere often to reach wider audiences than it could reach within the museum space; additionally, because the group often faced censorship, it took to illegally posting work on the city streets.Gober, Robert, Bob Gober, and Gran Fury. “Gran Fury.” BOMB, no. 34 (1991): 8–13.
DIVA TV (Damned Interfering Video Activist Television), begun in 1989, was a collective of artists who utilized video as their primary mediums, targeting their work at ACT UP members. Founded by Catherine Saalfield (now Catherine Gund), Ray Navarro, Jean Carlomusto, Gregg Bordowitz, Bob Beck, Costa Papas, Ellen Spiro, George Plaggianos, and Rob Kurilla, DIVA TV created videos that covered ACT UP actions as well as events within the movement. DIVA TV functioned as an educational queer television program that often educated its viewers about the AIDS epidemic. Some characteristic features of DIVA TV were its staunchly unprofessional style, with unrefined shots and no studio cleaning up of the footage, and tendency towards civil disobedience.JUHASZ, ALEXANDRA. “SO MANY ALTERNATIVES: THE ALTERNATIVE AIDS VIDEO MOVEMENT.” Cinéaste 20, no. 4 (1994): 32–35.
The artists who formed the Visual AIDS Artists Caucus created the AIDS awareness ribbon in 1991. They wished to create a visual symbol to demonstrate compassion for people living with AIDS and their caregivers. Inspired by the yellow ribbons honoring American soldiers serving in the Gulf war, the color red was chosen for its, "connection to blood and the idea of passion—not only anger, but love, like a valentine." First worn onscreen by a celebrity by Jeremy Irons at the 1991 Tony Awards, the red ribbon soon became renowned as an international symbol of AIDS awareness.Ribbon: The Art of Adornment p.22. Gibbs Smith, 2008 At the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert held at Wembley Stadium, London on Easter Sunday 1992, more than 100,000 red ribbons were distributed among the audience by Red Ribbon International, with performers such as George Michael wearing one.Sander L. Gilman Diseases & diagnoses: the second age of biology p.50. Transaction Publishers, 2010Sarah E. H. Moore (2008) Ribbon culture: charity, compassion, and public awareness p.74. Palgrave Macmillan, The Red Ribbon continues to be a powerful force in the fight to increase public awareness of HIV/AIDS and in the lobbying efforts to increase funding for AIDS services and research.
To symbolize the United States' commitment to combat the world AIDS epidemic through its landmark PEPFAR program, Steven M. Levine, a communications aid in President George W. Bush's administration, proposed that the administration display a AIDS ribbon on the White House's iconic North Portico on World AIDS Day 2007. The display, now an annual tradition across four administrations, quickly garnered attention, as it was the first banner, sign or symbol to prominently hang from the White House since Abraham Lincoln lived in the building.
, a Latino/a HIV prevention agency that began in San Francisco in 1993, was designed to reach a marginalized populations in San Francisco impacted by the AIDS pandemic: specifically, queer Latin@ youth, sex workers, and transgender populations and other disenfranchise people in San Francisco's Mission district. Proyecto used very progressive language and radical interpellation (giving identity to something) in its advertisements, which facilitated the inclusion of a wider audience. Additionally, Proyecto used a mixture of Spanish and English in its brochures and posters, which represented the mixed identities of its audiences while also making clear that the Spanish-speaking audience was the crucial demographic in Proyecto's mission. The agency offered several workshops aimed at a vast array of different identities in order to facilitate discourse and build communal relations while also educating the young population about sexual practices and the issues of the AIDS epidemic. Proyecto often used very poignant artistic activism in symbolic and provocative ways, such as a papaya shown in erotic ways to suggest Latino/a sexuality. Proyecto also facilitated workshops in which participants created images in response to the AIDS pandemic; these images were based on retablos, a Latino traditional art form.Juana María Rodríguez, Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces.NY: NYU, 2003
Individual artists
Nicholas Nixon became well known as a photographer; in 1988 he had an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City entitled "Pictures of People." Some photographs were of people with AIDS, documenting their physical deterioration in intervals of weeks or months. Nixon claimed that his goal was to visually capture the dire consequences of the AIDS epidemic. His depiction of people with AIDS was very controversial as some claimed his images were of hopeless, lonely individuals. During the exhibition at the MOMA, an offset of ACT UP called the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power staged a very calm protest against Nixon's images of PWA.Crimp, Douglas. “Portraits of People with AIDS” from Melancholia and Moralism: Essays on AIDS and Queer Politics. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. Print. p. 83107
Aziz + Cucher, a collaborative duo who have created much art aside from the AIDS epidemic, created the Chimera series after Cucher was diagnosed with HIV. Cucher was very ill after his diagnosis until medicinal advancements allowed him to restore his health and survive the virus. The series captures the mixture of medical and technological advancements that restored Cucher's standard of health and attempts to signal the life experience and comfort that Cucher finds in biotechnology as a person living with HIV.Meyer, Richard. “Ongoing: Notes on Contemporary Art and AIDS,” in Bodies of Resistance New York: Visual AIDS, 2000, p. 1925
Sunil Gupta is an artist who was diagnosed with HIV but was able to live healthily due to medicinal advancements. Gupta created a series titled From Here to Eternity in 2001 in which he photographs his daily life and routines as a person living with HIV, including getting blood drawn. Unlike prior photographs of people diagnosed with HIV, Gupta's images are less morbid and insist on his own vitality. Gupta's work is often categorized as a visual depiction of an ongoing experience of AIDS.
The famous avant-garde director Rosa von Praunheim campaigned for AIDS education, safe sex and the rights of the infected with his art right from the start of the HIV epidemic. In the USA he was able to get a lot of attention with his films Silence = Death and Positive (1990), which deal particularly with the fight of American artists such as Keith Haring and David Wojnarowicz against AIDS. He was a co-founder of ACT UP in Germany and carried out numerous high-profile campaigns in his home country to draw attention to the situation of infected people. The director's radical approach made him an international icon of AIDS activism.