In this article, Rika Allen aims to assert and support the claim that art activism plays an important role in South Africa’s fight against AIDS. Allen starts the essay by making the distinction between art activism and the conventional view of art. He claims that the practice of art activism is a “different kind of practice” (397) from works of art that are merely produced for art’s sake because these works are only interested in the aesthetic and technical qualities like the colors and texture of an art work. Therefore, Allen’s main goal for this article is to focus on art’s function in giving meaning and significance to the AIDS epidemic, emphasizing art’s capacity to create and mobilize social change. After defining art activism, Allen then …show more content…
Although efforts have been made to help people capture and understand the meaning of AIDS, people continue to have different and conflicting ideologies about AIDS. In other words the collective understanding of AIDS “remains a marshland of contending ideologies, political game playing, and socioeconomic causes and effects” Evidently, this is a significant problem associated with the AIDS epidemic because societies are filled with misunderstandings and misconceptions. Thus, Allen proposes that activist art can be used as a tool to correct thse misunderstandings and misinterpretations, and guide societies to reach a common and more accepting understanding of AIDS. In order to test his proposed approach, Allen analyzes different examples of activist art produced in South Africa during this time, explaining their potential to shift the cultural and collective understanding of AIDS. Consequently, for the rest of the article, Allen provides multiple analysis of different exhibitions from SANG, and explains how they have the potential to help people better grasp and understand the disease. To Allen, these exhibitions serve to enforce the social role of art as inheriting the ability to intervene in society and the purpose to inform and therefore to mobilize social change
Even after the disease and its modes of transmission had been correctly identified, fear and ignorance remained widespread. In the mid 1980s, “AIDS hysteria” became a well known term in the media and public life. For example, a magazine published details about how extensive AIDS/HIV related discrimination became. “Anxiety over AIDS in some parts of the U.S. is verging on hysteria,” the authors wrote; they later published this disturbing example:
The idea that art can be a service to people- most importantly a service to poor and disenfranchised people is one that may be disputed by some. However, Elizabeth Catlett and other artists at the taller de Graffica Popular have proved that art could be made to service the poor. Catlett in particular is someone who has always used her art to advocate for the poor and fight injustices. While her activism and political views were very impactful, they were also very controversial. Catlett`s art and activism influenced African American and Latin American art by changing the narratives of Black and Brown working class women. In their books titled Gumbo Ya Ya, The Art of Elizabeth Catlett, African American Art: The Long Struggle, and Elizabeth Catlett: Works on Paper authors Leslie King-Hammond, Samella S. Lewis, Crystal Britton, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jeanne Zeidler speak of the work of Catlett. In a paper titled -----, ---- also speaks of the work of Elizabeth Catlett and her legacy as an activist.
One important scene in the film ‘The Age of Aids’ is “Port Au Prince, Haiti”. In this scene it outlines the conditions in Haiti, which were very poor and it turn left the city defenseless against the new disease. In 70’s and 80’s the disease began to be seen by doctors and priests who were being sought after to cure a unseen disease which left the people with the “look of death, [making them] so skinny you could see their bones”. The scene then goes on to take a look at one of the first HIV clinics in Port Au Prince, which was opened in the roughest parts of town. One of the surprising things that this clinic found when they were looking at the patients coming in was that the mean they were analyzing had more contact with women then they had with men. This was extremely interesting because this was completely different from what the pattern of the disease had been in the US. The doctors believed this was because homosexual males had been coming into Haiti as tourists and where having sex with locals, who in comparison didn’t call themselves homosexuals because even though they had been having sex with men, the number of women they were having sex with greatly outnumbered the men. This was extremely important because it allowed people to open their eyes, and realize that this was not a homosexual disease, that anyone could get the disease. And that’s exactly what happened within the Haitian community. Within three years the disease had spread across the entire island effects all aspects of society. This scene was effective because it is able to change a viewer with little knowledge of the disease to understand how doctors were able to come to the conclusion that the disease was not in fact a homosexual ...
The 1980’s in America were a very iconic time period for the country. Music, films, and history were created that will never be forgotten. But during the 1980’s the AIDS epidemic became a very serious matter. According to Macionis, AIDS, first identified in 1981, is an incurable, deadly disease transmitted through bodily fluids including blood, semen, vaginal secretions and breast milk. The Dallas Buyers Club portrays what happened during the AIDS epidemic, and the social issues that people were faced with. Sexuality and AIDS were seen as directly linked, drug abuse and AIDS were also linked, and AIDS patients experienced difficulties with healthcare facilities.
Although the AIDS quilt is thought of by most to be a mourning device, there are in fact panels in the quilt that actually oppose the idea of mourning. In this section of the quilt, one out of the eight sections clearly stands out. It is one that reads: "Terry Sutton; He hated this quilt…and so do we." This panel, surrounded by the seven more traditional panels shows how although, on a broad level, the quilt is thought of as a non-activist mourning attempt, there are definite aspects of activism that show through despite discourses popularly associated with the quilt.
Because I was not a gay, I was not at risk. Because I did not inject drugs, I was not at risk.” People thought these stereotypes about contracting the virus. She describes to them clearly that AIDS is a disease for all humans and it does not discriminate. She identified with the audience’s humanity severally where she asked them, “are you human? Because people with HIV have not entered some alien state of being. They are human.” She reminded them that people infected with AIDS were just like any other human and they required care. She likened people who did not support the HIV positive with those who did not support the prosecuted Jewish population during the Holocaust. In the article “The Impact of Change”, AIDS is described as an epidemic that has it origin in Africa but it was greatly spreading in the U.S. Altman discourages the stereotype that AIDS is a disease for the homosexuals and drug
Randy Shilts set out to make monumental changes in the world’s perspective of AIDS. He planned to enlighten, motivate, and educate the population on this tragic disease that has already claimed so many lives. He believed that virtually all the misconceptions about AIDS would be corrected and the public would insist that more be done to stop the epidemic. "I had hoped to effect some fundamental changes. I really believed I could alter the performance of the institutions that had allowed AIDS to sweep through America unchecked" (220). Shilts’s immense expectations positioned him for his inevitable sense of failure. He did not accomplished all that he had planned. AIDS was still spreading and people were still dying. "The bitter irony is, my role as an AIDS celebrity just gives me a more elevated promontory from which to watch the world make the same mistakes in the handling of the AIDS epidemic that I hoped my work would help to change"(220).
"Demanding that life near AIDS is an inextricably other reality denies our ability to recreate a sustaining culture and social structures, even as we are daily required to devote such time to the details of the AIDS crisis." -Cindy Patton
It is getting the people of the community to support the revolution and make for a better life. In the essay it states, “Black art must expose the enemy, praise the people and support the revolution” (52). Black art is important to the survival of the black culture and the key to a better life, by revolution. Ron Karenga relies the message that a black aesthetic is essential to the revolution, in that it will help to judge the validity of the art in the black culture. If art is not to support the black revolution, it is invalid and useless to the community. This aesthetic will set guidelines for art and help to make art more focused on the revolution to help the community thrive. Karenga wants all art to support the revolution, no matter the art it needs to support the revolution or it is invalid to the black aesthetic. The artwork must be functional in getting its message through to the audience and inclining them to support and participate in the revolution, because in the end it will only help them get to a better
In the movie “And the Band Played On”, illustrated the origin of the AIDS virus, how it was spread across the world quickly. It began with a scene in 1976, Central Africa, shows how the Ebola disease affected a village and was contained before it was spread. This was to show the beginning of another serious disease called AIDS. The world was not prepared to handle such a contagious plague. Doctors treating people with this virus thought that the first cases of the HIV virus was just an abnormality disease. The disease started to spread all over, especially gay men. Throughout the movie, I was able to see different points, such as the beginning of AIDS, the misconceptions it had, and the anguish it brought to the doctors as well as people around the world.
In the movie And the Band Played On, stakeholders’ interests stymied public health efforts to research and implement health policy to control the rapidly emerging disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The stakeholders within the movie, those whose interest would be impacted by policy change, included the affected populations, scientists, state and federal public health officials, and organizations including blood banks. Early in the epidemic, the Center for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were tentative in disclosing vital information – many homosexual men were becoming infected in the bathhouses (Pillsbury, Sanford, & Spottiswoode, 1993). Despite having the supporting evidence of patient zero and a sexual cluster
"Feature story." "Art for AIDS" receives Keith Haring sculptures. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. .
The images above are just a few other example of how Keith Haring used similar ideas to create different artworks about stopping the AIDS epidemic. We know that he used his fame in the art world to create a platform on stopping this deadly disease. These piece of artwork all revolve around Keith Haring’s persistence to keep the public eye open about
Coveted by international art markets for both its quality and commercial rewards, African Art (in the singular) appears to refer to a homogeneous ensemble (Enwezor and Okeke-Agulu, 2009). All countries, styles, practices, and languages are, in theory, on the same level. However, schools, movements, socio-economic development, and political (in-)stabilities in its many countries trigger varied artistic responses towards both local and global forces. African cinemas are exemplary of that. They have evolved quite unevenly from their beginnings. Diverse languages, multiple former colonial powers, and troubled socio-political histories forced film scholarship to address them in the plural. This development à deux vitesses between African art and African cinemas spurs a number of questions. Therefore, ‘zooming out’ to show this décalage, I intend to bring African photography and cinemas into a wide theoretical frame...
From the moment scientists identified HIV and AIDS, social responses of fear, denial, stigma and discrimination have accompanied the epidemic. Discrimination has spread rapidly, fuelling anxiety and prejudice against the groups most affected, as well as those living with HIV or AIDS. It goes without saying that HIV and AIDS are as much about social phenomena as they are about biological and medical concerns. Across the world the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS has shown itself capable of triggering responses of compassion, solidarity and support, bringing out the best in people, their families and communities. But the disease is also associated with stigma, repression and discrimination, as individuals affected (or believed to be affected) by HIV have been rejected by their families, their loved ones and their communities. This rejection holds as true in the rich countries of the north as it does in the poorer countries of the south.