DAY WITH(OUT) ART, DECEMBER 1 ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS
Visual Aids and Parsons MFA Photography Present DAY WITH(OUT) ART ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS
The event will be in operation all day on December 1st, at 2 West 13th Street in the Entrance Lobby!
Visual AIDS has commissioned seven artists— Mykki Blanco, Cheryl Dunye with Ellen Spiro, Reina Gosset, Thomas Allen Harris, Kia Labeija, Tiona McClodden and Brontez Purnell–to create short videos ~7 minutes each in length about the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis. The video program, titled ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS, is the 28th iteration of Visual AIDS’ longstanding Day With(out) Art project.
Curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett, ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS looks to prioritize Black narratives within the ongoing AIDS epidemic. In spite of the impact of HIV/AIDS within Black communities, these stories and experiences are constantly excluded from larger artistic and historical narratives. In 2016, African-Americans represented 44% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States. Given this context, it is increasingly urgent to feature a myriad of stories that consider and represent the lives of those housed within this statistic. ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS seeks to highlight the voices of those that are marginalized within broader Black communities nationwide, including queer and trans folks.
The commissioned projects range from intimate meditations of a young HIV positive protagonist, to a contemporary re-imagining of 90s-era “safer sex” media culture, to a musical journey through New York exploring historical traces of queer and trans life, to accounts from formerly incarcerated women living with HIV/AIDS in the Bay Area. Together, the videos provide a platform centering voices deeply impacted by the ongoing epidemic.
Additional essays, information, artist / curator bios for this year’s Day With(out) programming can be found here:
Sponsored by Parsons MFA Photography and Visual AIDS
@parsonsmfaphoto @visual_aids
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