Queer Justice
Day Without Art
My Campus commentary is on the commemoration of Day Without Art for World AIDS Day. Day Without Art was started by Visual AIDS on December 1st, 1989, a year after World AIDS Day was first observed. Visual AIDS is an organization that, “utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over”(Visual AIDS). Over the years more has been added to what Visual AIDS does to recognize the day, but one thing that has stayed consistent throughout the years of observation is the shrouding of all artwork in the institution recognizing it. Davidson has been participating in the tradition for over a decade and is now a venue for Visual AIDS to screen the videos they commission each year from seven artists around the world about living with HIV-positive status. Using this exhibition, Davidson and Visual AIDS attempt to convey the message that AIDS is not gone through both showing how when we are exposed to a thing constantly it fades into the background and calling attention to how much art has been lost as a result of the inaction in regards to the AIDS epidemic.
All across campus, the statues were covered in bright red cloth, and informational papers about World AIDS Day were tied to each statue. The red cloths were so striking that they brought my attention to some statues that I had forgotten about because I had just seen them so much throughout my daily walking through campus. Herein lies the strategy used to get the message across about AIDS, because AIDS is a topic that is so often discussed it has begun to fall into our peripheries even though positive diagnoses are still incredibly high, especially in the South (Watson et al. Characteristics of and trends in HIV diagnoses in the Deep South region of the United States, 2012-2017). This is scary because it seems as though the more something is talked about, the more bored and disinterested people get with hearing about it. This was clear from my discussions with Lia Newman, the director and curator of the Van Every/Smith Galleries, where she said the reaction people have to the Day Without Art is less backlash towards the subject material, but rather confusion as to what it is about.
Even the confusion about the exhibit as a whole contributed to the message that was trying to be conveyed, with both the response as well as the lack of response working together to paint a picture of how AIDS was and is treated on a worldwide scale. The lack of information leads to misinformation spreading, with people thinking the sheets were just there to protect the art from the rain, which mirrors how people came to believe you could get AIDS by simply touching someone who already had it. This indirect messaging is the most valuable part of the exhibit because it serves to show how people today are still subject to confusion and misinformation that started years ago.
For those who take their time and sit with the exhibit, the message is quite clear. But, for a wider population, there was very little that could be found out about the exhibit just from looking at it. If a screening of the Day Without Art videos had happened, a spotlight would have been solely pushed onto queer art on a day without any other art visible which would have served to better inform people about the ongoing issues with AIDS as a whole. Overall, I thought the exhibit was informative and interesting and I have never seen any other place partner with Visual AIDS before Davidson, or even heard about Day Without Art.
Works Cited
“Visual AIDS Utilizes Art to Fight AIDS by Provoking…” Visual AIDS, visualaids.org/. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.
Watson, Meg, et al. “Characteristics of and Trends in HIV Diagnoses in the Deep South Region of the United States, 2012-2017.” AIDS and Behavior, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Oct. 2019, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6996090/#:~:text=Moreover%2C%20the%20South%20continues%20to,34%20years%20and%20Hispanics%2FLatinos.
