March 7, 2011, Cover Stories, Cover Story

Graphic Intervention: 25 Years Of International AIDS Awareness Posters

Mon, Mar 07, 2011

Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985-2010” pays homage to James Lapides' extensive archive of international AIDS Awareness posters along with posters generously donated to Massachusetts College of Art and Design. This cohesive collection over 150 posters presents an compelling overview of diverse visual strategies created by many different artists working within their own distinct cultural and national perspectives on the subject of AIDS as a public health emergency.

The rampant spread of the HIV/AIDS virus over the past three decades has created the most significant global public health crisis in modern history. As the epidemic unfolded and propagated globally, the need to educate the world’s public about the devastating disease became critical. Moreover, with the disease’s association with sexuality and sexual behavior, communicators faced increased challenges around social and moral issues deeply rooted in various cultures and traditions. Within this context, the graphic poster became a vital tool in humanity’s battle against the spread of AIDS, despite the existence of more advanced communication technologies. In many countries, the poster as a medium of information was unknown before the emergence and identification of the HIV virus.

“Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985-2010” demonstrates the wide range and tremendous impact of some of the most notable AIDS education posters. The designs and presentations feature a myriad of messages, visual metaphors, and strategies that tackle the epidemic across drastically different cultures and moral points of view. Countries located in Africa, Asia, Oceania, North America, South America, and Europe are represented.

“The AIDS epidemic spread devastation across all swaths of humanity, regardless of culture, tradition, or social perspectives,” noted Williamson Gallery director Stephen Nowlin. “This exhibition delivers a commanding representation of these messages. The posters are arresting and provocative, but the thread of compassion and human outreach that weaves through all of them will make gallery visitors hold their breath in contemplation,” he added.

The Graying of AIDS: Off The Wall

Coinciding with exhibition and beginning on April 11, 2011, the gallery will host an Art Center Illustration Department/Designmatters exhibition entitled “The Graying of AIDS Exhibition: Off The Wall.”  The exhibition showcases student work inspired by “The Graying of AIDS: Stories from an Aging Epidemic,” a multi-platform outreach campaign led by the New York-based team of Katja Heinemann and Naomi Schegloff, which aims to educate health care and social service professionals about the risks and realities of HIV/AIDS and older adults.   With studies projecting that more than half of all people living with HIV in the US will be over 50 by 2015, “The Graying of AIDS” was originally developed by Heinemann as a print feature for Time Magazine in 2006, and today is the first and only national education and prevention outreach campaign around AIDS that is geared towards seniors and their care providers.

“Graphic Intervention” was organized by Elizabeth Resnick and Javier Cortes in collaboration with James Lapides, International Poster Gallery, Boston, and Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston.  Williamson Gallery exhibitions are made possible in part by a grant from the Pasadena Art Alliance and the generosity of the Williamson Gallery Patrons.

The Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery at Art Center College of Design is located at 1700 Lida Street in Pasadena; hours are noon to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday and noon to 9:00 p.m., Friday; the gallery is closed Mondays and holidays. For more gallery information, call (626) 396-2446.

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