Visual AIDS

For @lovepositivewomen 2021, Visual AIDS, @fireislandresidency, @positivewomensnetworkusa, @thewellprojecthiv, and @dieudonnepaper continued our longstanding collaboration to do something special for women and femmes living with HIV. Unable to gather at Dieu Donne for our usual papermaking workshops, we invited over 75 artists across the US to decorate handmade paper hearts at home. Participants included Visual AIDS Artist Members, Fire Island Artist Residency alum, Dieu Donn...é staff and Studio Residents, and members of the Women's Empowerment Art Therapy Group. Together, we decorated over 400 cards that were mailed to women and femmes with HIV around the world, reaching over twenty countries. Swipe through for a selection of Valentines created for LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN 2021. Thank you to all the artists that helped us continue this tradition!

Our February web gallery, curated by Paula Toynton, centers women, femmes, trans femmes, and non-binary folks living with HIV. In her accompanying passage, Toynton celebrates those that have persevered living with HIV. She acknowledges the devastating impact of the virus, but also the way in which HIV redefines love and grace, awakens purpose and courage, and forges communities where they had not existed before. The gallery also features reflections from some of our Artist+... Members and from members of our monthly Women’s Empowerment Art Therapy Workshop started and run by Shirlene Cooper. Several of those reflections are seen here. Head to the link in our bio to see the full gallery, read Toynton’s essay, and read all of the reflections. Artworks: 1. Miss Kitty, (title unknown) , n/d 2. Catwalk 4 Power Collective, Catwalk 4 Power (2019) 3. Shirlene Cooper, Love Positive Women (2015) 4. Keiskamma Art Project, Susan Paliso (2020) 5. Lucretia Crichlow, Title unknown (c. 1990-94) 6. Chloe Dzubilo, Untitled (I Ask Myself) (2010) 7. Rebecca Guberman-Bloom, To Spare the Sparrow (1997) Image descriptions in alt text.

Secreted away in each one of these envelopes lies a unique postcard size artwork for our annual event Postcards from the Edge. The artworks will go on sale in a virtual showroom from Jan 8-22, so be sure to make your calendars! 2021 will mark the 23rd year of Visual AIDS' benefit art sale and we hope that you will participate. Postcards from the Edge is Visual AIDS’ most popular and successful annual benefit event. It is not only a highlight of the art world each year for artists and collectors, but also provides essential funding to help us carry out our mission and programming. Head to the link in our bio for more information about how this year's virtual event will work.

Thank you to everyone that helped make our tribute to Frederick Weston so special during last night’s book launch of DUETS: Frederick Weston & Samuel R. Delaney in Conversation. A special thank you to Samuel R. Delaney, Svetlana Kitto, Devin N. Morris, and LJ Roberts that each contributed video memorials. For those that weren’t able to attend last night the video program can be viewed on our Vimeo. Link in our bio. Pre-orders can also be placed for the book, shipping in ear...ly February. Just $10 on our store. Link to purchase in our bio as well. And if you’re in New York be sure to check out the solo exhibition of Weston’s work at @ortuzarprojects organized by @gordonrobichaux . Now extended to February 13.

Tonight we honor Frederick Weston! Our program tonight launches the latest installment of our DUETS publication series, DUETS: Frederick Weston & Samuel R. Delany in conversation, with an online program featuring Samuel R. Delany, Svetlana Kitto, Devin N. Morris, and LJ Roberts. Organized to coincide with the exhibition Frederick Weston organized by @gordonrobichaux at @ortuzarprojects, the book launch will feature recorded responses to Weston’s artwork and video of Westo...n performing his poetry. In the book, Frederick Weston (19462020) and Samuel R. Delany come together for a wide-ranging dialogue, reflecting on their overlapping histories in Times Square, the deep impact of AIDS on their creative practices, and the ever-changing intersections of race, sex, language, and art. Featuring additional contributions by Bruce Benderson, Svetlana Kitto, and Tavia Nyong'o. This event will take place from 6-7pm EST. RSVP for this event at the link in our bio. DUETS: Frederick Weston & Samuel R. Delany in Conversation is available for preorder on the Visual AIDS store ($10), shipping in February. Visual AIDS and @gordonrobichaux will be organizing an expansive memorial event for Weston in Spring 2021. Images: 1. DUETS: Frederick Weston & Samuel R. Delany in Conversation cover 2. Samuel R. Delany and Frederick Weston at Gordon Robichaux, May 6, 2019. Photo by Sam Gordon

Thank you @elizabethtayloraidsfoundation for your amazing support of our Women’s Empowerment Art Therapy Workshops and for highlighting us in your post today. This picture was taken during our workshop hosted by @bronxmuseum last year. Please join us in The Commitment to End AIDS : Mental Health and Wellness Support is an essential part of holistic care for women living with HIV and frequently goes unfunded, especially in light of COVID-19. In 2019, ETAF reached over 3...,700 women living with HIV and immediate family members. These support-focused programs are invaluable in addressing the stigma and other HIV-related health issues that people living with HIV often face. Please demonstrate your Commitment to End AIDS by donating today! Link in Bio (: @visual_aids's LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN program for women living with HIV)

We’re hiring! Visual AIDS is seeking candidates for two new project-based archive roles - Project Archivist & Grad Archive Engagement Intern. These are short-term, partially remote positions that are funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Community-based Archive 2020-22 Grant. Links to both positions with application details and requirements are located in our bio. Deadline to apply: Thursday, February 25 at midnight

Have you had the opportunity to explore our first web gallery of the year curated by Louie A. Ortiz-Fonseca, creator of @granvarones. In the gallery Ortiz-Fonseca selects a series of portraits from the Registry reminiscing on the importance of telling our stories as we are all libraries burning. An excerpt from Ortiz-Fonseca’s essay: The first time I heard the quote ‘every time an old person dies, it is as if a library burned down,’ I immediately thought of my mother and b...rother Nicholas. The two people in the universe that were the first half of my life, that many of my memories orbit around. Neither one of them were anywhere near what is considered old in this country when they both died. My brother was just 21 when he was murdered 20 years ago and my mother, 55, when she chose to end her battle with cancer six years ago. Together, with their support, I survived the height of the AIDS epidemic. And only because of them, I survived the crack epidemic. And part of my survival is my responsibility to tell our stories with the urgency of being ‘a library on fire.’ Head to the link in our bio to view the full gallery and read Ortiz-Fonseca’s accompanying essay. Some context for folks that may be new to our Instagram, each month we invite a new curator to create an online exhibition from our online Artist+ Registry that includes profiles of 900+ artists either currently living with HIV or passed from AIDS related complications. If you would like to explore the registry yourself head to visualaids.org/artists Artworks: 1. Richard Renaldi, Manhattan Sunday (Nicole) (2011) 2. Joselo Girona, Dick Van Dick n/d 3. Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Every mothers son: children of suffering (1989) 4. Shirlene Cooper, Shirlene Cooper providing Joyce McDonald COVID-19 mutual aid resources (2020) 5. Juan Rivera, Self-portrait of Juan (c.1985-88) 6. Luna Luis Ortiz, The Kiss Carlos and Harlow (1992) Image descriptions in alt text.

On the Visual AIDS blog, Noam Parness @nparness reviews Eric Rhein: Lifelines, published earlier this year by Institute 193. Lifelines is the first monograph of Rhein’s work and is available to purchase through @institute193 and in bookstores across the country. @ericrheinart While Lifelines gives us a view into Rhein’s more familiar sculptural work, it draws more heavily on an archive of imagesself-portraits that Rhein began taking in 1992, as well as photographs of lover...s and friends. Almost always, the bodies in these images are nude or nearly so, sometimes tender, pensive, playful, eroticstill graceful, like Rhein’s sculptures. Their settings might be bedrooms, barns, woods, and showers. Not only a presentation of Rhein’s work, this book serves as a visual memoir of Rhein’s life since his diagnosis. To an unknowing viewer (and even a knowing one), the photographs might serve as a bridge between Rhein’s life experiences and the sculptures whose messages read less explicitly. Read more at the link in our bio. Captions: 1, 2, 4: Cover and spreads from Eric Rhein: Lifelines 3: DodgeBefore Dawn (William W. Dodge IV), 1994 4: Jeff and Tim (Jeffrey Geiger and Tim Goetz), 2005, from Leaves, an AIDS memorial. 5: Kissing Ken (self-portrait with Ken Davis), 1996 6: Silver Buck (Fire Island), 2010

Have you had the opportunity to check out our December web gallery? In Let My Presence Be the Refusal, our final web gallery of 2020, curator Katherine Cheairs (@kacheairs) reflects on the past year. She honors those lost to multiple pandemics and systemic violence, recognizing the enormous weight that BIPOC communities specifically must hold. Highlighting Black and Indigenous artists in the registry, she acknowledges capacities to hold each other through grief while still... claiming spaces of joy as resistance. View the full gallery and read Cheairs’ essay at the link in our bio. Artworks: 1. Patrick Brown, Untitled(2013) 2. Jesse Murry, Middle Passage 1989 3. Frederick Weston, Little Black Sambo Series (2004-6) 4. Eva Simone Hayward, Sea Me? 12 N/D 5. Jaime Valencia, Life (2017) 6. Eva Simone Hayward, Sea Me? 12 N/D 7. Kia LaBeija, Mourning Sickness (February 2014) 8. Feliciano Centurión, Soledad (Solitude) , c.1996

Today we celebrate Frederick Weston, artist, poet, fashion designer, and pillar of the Visual AIDS on what would have been his 74th birthday. Head to the link in our bio to read several tributes in his honor from Stephanie Crawford, LJ Roberts, Pamela Sneed and more. If you would like to add a written tribute or send images, please email Esther McGowan at [email protected] On December 12, a survey exhibition of Fred’s work will open at @ortuzarprojects in collaboration ...with @gordonrobichaux . The show will be on view through January 30. We’re also excited to share that our forthcoming DUETS book features Fred in conversation with Samuel R. Delaney. The book ships in February but preorders are now available. Head to the tribute page for more info. Happy Birthday Fred! Sending you double hugs in spirit! Images: 1. Clifford Prince King, Frederick Weston in His Studio, May 2019. Courtesy Gordon Robichaux and Clifford Prince King. 2. Frederick Weston, Blue Bathroom Blues (1999) Courtesy of Gordon Robichaux. 3. Frederick Weston, Self-Portrait (1979) 4. Clifford Prince King, Frederick Weston in His Studio, May 2019. Courtesy Gordon Robichaux and Clifford Prince King. 5. Frederick Weston, Creature from the Blue Lagoon (2019) Courtesy Gordon Robichaux. 6. Clifford Prince King, Tabboo! and Frederick Weston (2020) Courtesy Gordon Robichaux and Clifford Prince King. 7. Clifford Prince King, Frederick Weston in His Studio, May 2019. Courtesy Gordon Robichaux and Clifford Prince King.

In Let My Presence Be the Refusal, our final web gallery of 2020, curator Katherine Cheairs reflects on the past year. She honors those lost to multiple pandemics and systemic violence, recognizing the enormous weight that BIPOC communities specifically must hold. Highlighting Black and Indigenous artists in the registry, she acknowledges capacities to hold each other through grief while still claiming spaces of joy as resistance. View the full gallery and read Cheairs’ ess...ay at the link in our bio. Artworks: 1. Affrekka Jefferson, All That Glitters (1991) 2. Sean Paul Gallegos, Reserved Ancestry (2012) 3. Carlos Cordero, 12. Rising Sun N/D 4. Abdul-Aliy Muhammad, collaboration with Ero Rose Collaborative Portrait (2019) 5. Kenneth Mitchell, Wanted (2002) 6. Darrel Ellis, Self-portrait after photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe (1989) 7. Pamela Brown, "’From my Heart to Yours’ Valentine for LPW (2017) 8. Lucretia Crichlow, Self-Portrait: Grief (c. 1994) 9. Oscar Gallegos, Gerald N/D