Walking into an art museum, one may not expect an exhibit’s theme to be AIDS. However, from now to Jan. 10, 2016, the Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) is devoting a large section of the museum to an exhibition showing artworks related to AIDS from the early 1980s to the present, titled “Art AIDS America.”
The exhibit is diverse in its artistic materials as well as its portrayal of AIDS. Some of the examples include a shiny bead curtain symbolizing purification, many CD-sized, glass red blood cells scattered on the well-lit wooden floor, and photographs revealing the intimate moments of AIDS patients’ day-to-day struggles with the disease. Many of the artists were AIDS patients themselves, and their work demonstrates complex emotions like fear, loneliness, and resilience.
Keaohuana’oli Rivera-Leong, a student from the University of Puget Sound, thought the exhibition was very powerful with a lot of variety.
In addition to people who are interested in the artistic expression of AIDS, some visitors have more personal experiences with the illness.
One such visitor was David Mendoza, executive director of The National Campaign for Freedom of Expression (NCFE) from 1991-97. Mendoza knew many of the artists whose works were displayed in the exhibition. Artwork about controversial topics like homosexuality and AIDS used to be heavily censored by the federal government, and the mission of the NCFE was to fight against the censorship, Mendoza said.
“Our friends were sick and dying; we were fighting against the government who wanted to censor these artworks about AIDS and gays,” Mendoza said.
It was a time of hardship he was not keen to recall.
“It’s been so long,” Mendoza said. “It’s difficult, but I decided to come because today’s World AIDS Day.”
He said he came “to look and remember.”
The TAM held a special event for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. The program was opened by several speakers including TAM’s chief curator, Rock Hushka, and Washington state secretary of health, John Wiesman. Soon after the speech, the event room acquired a poignant air. Attendees were invited to share their personal reasons for wearing the red ribbon that represented the battle against AIDS. Many of them had lost one or more of their loved ones to the disease.
Some of the artists among them chose to express their grief with words.
Ann Mackenzie wrote a poem for her friend who died at age 29 from AIDS. She kept her illness a secret until she died because New York City, where she lived, was “fanatically embarrassed about AIDS” at the time.
“When she died, there wasn’t a funeral,” Mackenzie said. “She died alone. Her mother found out she had AIDS on her deathbed. … Nobody should have gone through that.”
On the other hand, some artists saw hope in the crisis of AIDS.
Jennifer Chushcoff wrote a moving poem to commemorate women who volunteered to care for AIDS patients when others turned away. She said the movement started when a woman came in to a clinic and saw that nurses left AIDS patients’ food on the floor outside of their rooms instead of sending it in. She decided that she would care for her patients if no one else would.
“It’s about humanity,” Chushcoff said. “There was a lot of bravery.”
No matter what kind of artistic expression came out of the collective experience of the AIDS epidemic, one thing is for sure: The AIDS crisis is not over yet.
In Washington state alone, it’s estimated that at least 13,000 people are living with AIDS.
Fortunately, the Washington government has come up with a plan to combat the disease.
According to Wiesman, the Washington state government has issued a proclamation that we need to end AIDS, and the government aims to reduce the number of new HIV infections by half by 2020.
“The reason I’m so hopeful at this point in time is because I think the time is now,” said Wiesman. “We have a governor who has said this is a priority.”
He also said now is the right time because of the more accepting attitude toward homosexuality, more advanced medicine, and recent health care reform.
The state government released a report Dec. 1 on how the government is going to fight AIDS and its related problems. The report is available on the website of the Washington State Department of Health and is open to public comments until Jan. 15, 2016.
Reach contributing writer Sylvia Lin at development@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @SylviaLin13
