Fowler exhibit works to break stigma surrounding HIV, AIDS through art
On Saturday, The Fowler Museum celebrated the exhibition Through Positive Eyes, curated by World Arts and Cultures Professor and Director of the UCLA Art and Global Health Center David Gere.
"Visitors are greeted with a wall of the faces of 130 HIV-positive people at the Fowler Museum at UCLA’s newest installment.The “Through Positive Eyes” exhibit will be on display at the Fowler through Feb. 16, featuring live storytelling and art by people who are HIV-positive. Photographs taken by the artists will be displayed and accompanied by text and videos to tell stories about their experiences living with the virus. David Gere, a professor in the World Arts and Cultures/Dance department, said the project started over 10 years ago with the work of Gideon Mendel, a South African photographer who had been chronicling the AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa.
“What we devised, we hope, is an opportunity for people living with HIV to do the art themselves,” Gere said. “To share their own photographs, to share their own stories, to do this in the first person so that it feels as immediate as possible, so that it breaks through the bonds of stigma.”"— Deirdra Klena, October 2, 2019
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Daily Bruin website.
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