Episode 67: Vanishing Points: Art Against AIDS
Read our lips: Kissing Doesn't Kill. Greed and Indifference Do.
We here at BYWAP have thought long and hard about how we wanted to celebrate PRIDE on our podcast. As two queer women, we acknowledge the celebration and trauma that comes from LGBTQI+ legacy. The first Pride was a riot, and this will be no different. In a joyful, tearful recounting of today's article, we implore you to take stock of how far we have come as a community, and how far we still have to go. Don't let June be the only month you embrace queer history. Learn the artists, say their names. Get Keith Haring tattooed on your arm, hang cut-outs of Robert Mapplethorpe on your wall, cry with Aziz + Cucher as they navigated the miracle of medical advancement, and make art to remember the loss of your loved ones like David Wojnarowicz.
Remember, this isn't 'gay as in happy', this is 'queer as in no cops at PRIDE.' Our article for today is Vanishing Points: Art, AIDS, and the Problem of Visibility from Richard Meyer's book Outlaw Representation: Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century American Art (2002).
Join us as we investigate the cultural climate of the American AIDS epidemic, denounce artistic censorship, listen to Stephanie nearly cry several times, ACT UP as we add our voices to the chants of Silence=Violence, and offer sympathetic hearts to the work and life of artists like David Wojnarowicz.
Things have changed, but we're changing with it.
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Donate to Black Lives Matter LA, the Action Bail Fund, Black Visions Collective. Please be sure you've signed petitions. If you like what we do, you can support BYWAP over on our Patreon!
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Our music was written and recorded by Elene Kadagidze.
Our cover art was designed by Lindsey Anton-Wood.
Sources:
Meyer R. (2002). Vanishing Points: Art, AIDS, and the Problem of Visibility. Outlaw Representation: Censorship & Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century American Art. Oxford University Press, pp. 205-343. Retrieved from: Richard Meyer.pdf - UW Canvashttps://canvas.uw.edu › courses › files › download
Aizenman N. (2019). How to Demand a Medical Breakthrough: Lessons from the AIDS Fight. NPR Production. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/09/689924838/how-to-demand-a-medical-breakthrough-lessons-from-the-aids-fight?t=1622213353466
France D. (2020). The Activists: How ACT UP - the coalition that fought against AIDS stigma and won medications that slowed the plague - forever changed patients’ rights, protests and American political organizing as it’s practiced today. NYTimes. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/13/t-magazine/act-up-aids.html
HIV.gov (n.d.). A Timeline of HIV and AIDS. Retrieved from: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/history/hiv-and-aids-timeline
Wikipedia contributors (n.d.). ACT UP. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACT_UP
