Exhibition
screening
1 December — 3 December 2022
Open Thurs–Sat, 1–4pm
At The Bower
online
screening
1 December 2022
Being & Belonging is a program of seven short videos highlighting under-told stories of HIV and AIDS from the perspective of artists living with HIV across the world. Being & Belonging screens at over 100 museums and arts organisations worldwide on December 1, 2022 for Day With(out) Art / World AIDS Day.
From navigating sex and intimacy to confronting stigma and isolation, Being & Belonging centres the emotional realities of living with HIV today. How does living with HIV shift the ways that a person experiences, asks for, or provides love, support, and belonging? The seven videos are a call for belonging from those that have been stigmatised within their communities or left out of mainstream HIV/AIDS narratives.
Being & Belonging will feature newly commissioned work by:
CamilaArce (Argentina)
Davina “Dee” Conner and Karin Hayes (USA)
Jaewon Kim (South Korea)
Clifford Prince King (USA)
Santiago Lemus and Camilo Acosta Huntertexas (Colombia)
Mikiki (Canada)
Jhoel Zempoalteca and La Jerry (México)
watch
—trailer
Films screening on a loop
Camila Arce
Memoria Vertical
Camila Arce presents a poem about the experience of being born with HIV and growing up as part of the first generation with access to antiretroviral medication in South America.
Davina “Dee” Conner and Karin Hayes
Here We Are: Voices of Black Women Who Live with HIV
Davina “Dee” Conner was diagnosed with HIV in 1997. For 18 years she knew no one else who lived with HIV. As she emerged from isolation and internalized stigma, Davina sought to understand the journeys of other Black women living with HIV. Here they are. Listen to their voices.
Jaewon Kim
Nuance
Through an unfolding collection of images, Nuance reflects the thoughts and feelings exchanged between the artist, who is living with HIV, and his HIV-negative partner.
Clifford Prince King
Kiss of Life
In Kiss of Life, four Black people describe their experiences living with HIV. Raw conversations surrounding disclosure, rejection and self love are expressed through visual poetry and dreamscapes.
Santiago Lemus and Camilo Acosta Huntertexas
Los Amarillos
In Colombia, many people living with HIV experience jaundice–the yellowing of the eyes and skin–as a side effect of the low cost antiretroviral drugs supplied by the government. Los Amarillos is an experimental video addressing the alienation and hypervisibility that the artists have faced as a result of this side effect.
Mikiki
Red Flags, a love letter
Through a cacophony of limbs, members, and sounds drawn from the party and play scene, Mikiki speaks with other drug users about the possibilities of representing the pleasure of substance use beyond the framework of harm.
Jhoel Zempoalteca and La Jerry
Lxs dxs bichudas
Lxs dxs bichudas offers a poetic dance dialogue in Zapotec and Spanish that explores the ways in which race, gender, and geography shapes the lives and bodies of people living with HIV in Mexico, a country marked by the ideological project of mestizaje.
DAY WITH(OUT)
ART
—ABOUT
An international day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis
December 1st
In 1989, in response to the worsening AIDS crisis and coinciding with the World Health Organization’s second annual World AIDS Day on December 1, Visual AIDS organized the first Day Without Art. A committee of art workers (curators, writers, and art professionals) sent out a call for “mourning and action in response to the AIDS crisis” that would celebrate the lives and achievements of lost colleagues and friends; encourage caring for all people with AIDS; educating diverse publics about HIV infection; and finding a cure. More than 800 arts organizations, museums and galleries throughout the U.S. participated by shrouding artworks and replacing them with information about HIV and safer sex, locking their doors or dimming their lights, and producing exhibitions, programs, readings, memorials, rituals, and performances. Visual AIDS coordinated this network mega-event by producing a poster and handling promotion and press relations.
In 1998, for its 10th iteration, Day Without Art became Day With(out) Art. Visual AIDS added the parentheses to highlight the ongoing inclusion of art projects focused on the AIDS pandemic, and to encourage programming of artists living with HIV.
Since 2010, Visual AIDS has worked with artists and filmmakers to internationally distribute videos to museums, art institutions, schools and AIDS organizations. To mark the 25th anniversary of Day With(out) Art in 2014, Visual AIDS distributed ALTERNATE ENDINGS, a program of commissioned videos by seven artists and collectives that was screened internationally and is available onl ine to share widely.
Each year since then, Visual AIDS has commissioned and distributed a video program for Day With(out) Art, coordinating screenings at over 100 venues around the world.