Protest Art, Haring and HIV

We’ve heard it before—a picture is worth a thousand words.  If one can capture an idea or a feeling completely and powerfully with a simple image, suddenly, a movement is born. During the beginning of the AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 80s and 90s, artists banded together to create art in order to muster a feeling of protest and camaraderie.  The more the public knows and cares about the deadly reality of AIDS, the greater the numbers of those marching and demanding a cure.

Public art, graffiti, and activist art emerged as rallying points during the terrifying decades of the beginning of HIV/AIDS.  It seemed that the only way to be heard was to force images into a person’s everyday life: to paint subway walls with protest symbols, and paste Xeroxed posters on sidewalks.

According to Will Travers, founder and executive director of the cultural and political resistance website lokashakti.org (http://www.lokashakti.org/), art is a logical way to unite people, and to spread a message.  “It seems like using art as a medium for protest is particularly effective because it's accessible to so many different kinds of people.  Street art even more so.  Just looking at something forces you to have a reaction,” said Travers. Travers’ organization promotes social awareness by posting information about protest rallies and social justice issues that are happening now, around the world, along with a separate blog about protest art http://www.protestart.org/ .  It’s like social networking for activism, the goal being to be ‘in the know’ and prepared to join a cause as quickly as Google maps on can load the directions to the start of a march or location of a demonstration.

However, in the early 80s and 90s, there was no Internet to spread the word about protests or local activism.  At a time when HIV/AIDS activism desperately needed unity, artists struggled to connect their art with the public.  It was not as simple as creating a Twitter account and getting a large number of followers; getting the word out required a unique persistence.

Keith Haring was among the artists who changed the way art was distributed and digested.  For those just getting up on Haring, he was a young, gay artist in the time of ACT UP and Paradise Garage — which was a warehouse that hosted DJ dance parties primarily for the gay community.  He is known for his bold figures — the ‘radiant baby,’ the dog, and the UFO — and for his prevalence in street art.  

According to the Keith Haring Foundation website, in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1989 (http://www.haring.com/archives/interviews/index.html), Haring talked about his experience creating chalk drawings in subways.  “It was this chalk-white fragile thing in the middle of all this power and tension and violence,” said Haring. “The subway pictures became a media thing, and the images started going out into the rest of the world via magazines and television.”

Keith Haring: 1978–1982 at Brooklyn Museum

 

 

A picture of one of the chalk drawings Haring did with his artist friend Jean-Michel Basquiat, another pioneer of symbolic graffiti in the 80s and 90s, was recently featured among pieces at the Keith Haring exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.  I had a chance to check out this amazing exhibition, which was the first large-scale exhibition to explore his early career.  By drawing where he was not allowed, and forcing the public to confront whatever was put in front of them, Haring and other activist artists made the public aware of important issues.

Haring also clipped headlines from newspapers, arranged them in ridiculous ways, and then posted them on the streets. “The idea was that people would be stopped in their tracks, not knowing whether it was real or not… so they had to confront it and somehow deal with it,” said Haring in the Rolling Stone interview.

Here’s a picture that I took of those newspaper clippings, again at the Brooklyn Museum:

Keith Haring: 1978–1982 at Brooklyn Museum

 

But Haring did not just do street art. He used his talent to promote other artist friends, and raise awareness about issues important to him.  

Haring made this painting in 1988 to promote safe sex.  The image is bold and explicit, depicting two men jerking each other off, but as is the general idea of protest art and graffiti: get in touch with your audience by bringing the art to the people, even if the images are alarming. 

Other artists continue this legacy today when approaching current political and social issues. Molly Crabapple is one such contemporary artist (http://mollycrabapple.com/).  She makes protest art for Occupy Wall Street, among other artistic endeavors.  “I don’t really believe in putting things in boxes, I think things should be pervasive everywhere,” said Crabapple.  She went on to talk about the importance of creating a visual language—repeated and powerful symbols that come to represent a movement.  This was the same for Haring, as Julia Gruen, executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation, stated to me as we traded emails.  “He developed a visual language and alphabet based in part on semiotics, influenced by comics and graffiti, and synthesized those disparate influences into a vocabulary at once unique and yet somehow readable as part of a collective unconscious.” The Keith Haring Foundation — a foundation Haring created  — was establised to ensure that his philanthropy would continue, and that his images would be used for appropriate causes.  Gruen served as Haring’s own assistant from 1984 until his death from AIDS in 1990. 

Similar to the work that the Keith Haring Foundation continues to do to support AIDS research and other worthy causes, the west coast based Alliance Health Project also supports AIDS research by holding a big art auction in San Francisco every year called Art For AIDS (http://artforaids.org/ ).  According to dk haas, artist and organizer of the event, Art For AIDS “was started by some artists who were either themselves infected or knew of other people who were affected by the disease.”  The Alliance Health Project was among the first in the country to offer anonymous testing for HIV, and continues to offer health support for the LGBTQ community. 

It’s just another way art connects to activism.  Whether its raising funds for research, or getting the word out by way of an image, art is essential to unity and progress. “I’ve been saying for a long time that contemporary art was very not engaged with the outside world, and I think that with political people of the last few years, not being engaged, and just sticking with your galleries has become a cop out,” said Molly Crabapple.

Here’s an image to leave you with, done by Haring in collaboration with ACT UP.  It’s an image of the pink triangle, which has visual significance outside of the AIDS crisis; the pink triangle was used by Nazis in World War II to identify homosexuals, and then again used by ACT UP as a protest against the negative stigma of AIDS.  Here it is superimposed by images of the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” and ACT UP’s motto: “Silence = Death.”  His art is telling us that if we don’t talk about being gay, safe sex, and finding a cure, the consequence will be tragic.

Silence = Death, 1989, Copyright Keith Haring Foundation 

 

Here is a link to the Keith Haring Foundation website, where a lot of Haring’s work is archived digitally: http://www.haring.com/cgi-bin/art_search_lrg.cgi?id=00604&search=safe%20sex&start=40

Having completed its run at Brooklyn Museum, Haring’s ‘radiant babies’ and more will travel to Santiago, Chile (8/20 - 9/29); Udine, Italy (9/2 – 2/15/13); and Paris, France (4/19 – 8/18/2013).  Keith Haring is also included an upcoming group show at New York’s New Museum entitled “Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969–1989” (9/19 – 1/6/2013).  New Museum 212-219-1222.

--Virginia Marshall

GET DOWN Youth Blogger

@vrosemarshall

virginiarosemarshall@college.harvard.edu

Lifebeat, Lil Scrappy and HIV: The Music Industry & HIV 20 Years Later

The heat is on! You know what that means – Summer Concert Tours!  On June 26^th, I got a chance to check out Glassnote Entertainment Group’s Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) in New York.  At his shows, while Childish Gambino tears through underground viral hits “Heartbeat” and “Outside” from his new album, “Camp,” representatives from Lifebeat hand out condoms and encouraging Childish Gambino fans to get tested for HIV/AIDS.   As it turns out, Lifebeat is partnering with Childish Gambino and other major concert tours this year as well, including Coldplay, Madonna and Wiz Khalifa, to raise awareness around HIV and help stop the spread.

Lifebeat, which has been around longer than I’ve been alive, is an amazing organization that brings AIDS awareness and money for AIDS research to music lovers and concert-goers.

Through benefit concerts and tours, Lifebeat, according to their website, is “the music industry’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis.”

In New York, Lifebeat hosts benefit concerts or other benefit events almost every year when a portion of the ticket money is donated to AIDS research.  The first benefit concert took place in 1992 and female rap trio Salt-N-Pepa performed, along with the iconic band Pet Shop Boys.  Besides raising money and awareness, these first bands demonstrated the power of music by performing songs about the crisis.  Salt-N-Pepa performed their seminal safe sex song “Let’s Talk about AIDS”, a play on their “Let’s Talk About Sex”, in which they warned their audience about the ways a person can get HIV, and how to be smart about it.  Watching the video now, you might be momentarily distracted by the colorful windbreakers and mom jeans (but remember, it was the 90’s and everyone dressed like that).  Once you’ve gotten over the strange outfits, you’ll hear the lyrics that were intended to open people’s minds. First, you’ll learn that AIDS “is not a black, white, or gay disease,” and “the earlier, the sooner detected, the better off.”

The artists in Salt-N-Pepa are hip-hop pioneers, and at the time, they were at the top of their game.  The founders of Lifebeat knew how much influence a band like that can have on its fans.  When Salt-N-Pepa told their audience to “protect yourself or don’t have sex anymore,” people listened because the message was coming from a source that they admired.  To our generation of youth today, this type of rap may seem a bit outdated but it’s essential to understand that in 1992 this openness about AIDS transmission was pretty unprecedented.

The article “Aids-the Grim Reaper Of Rock”, published in the Chicago Tribune in February 1992, focused on the death of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury.  It claimed that many people in the music industry were HIV positive, but did not talk about it for fear of discrimination.  Bob Caviano, founder of Lifebeat, was one of these music industry people struggling with AIDS, and he was not about to let his own struggles go unsung.  He wrote in a 1992 Billboard Magazine article, “Music People With AIDS Need Help,” that it was time that music makers stood up to get the word out.  And slowly, they did.

 

“Rent,” the rock opera/musical about a group of friends living with HIV/AIDS and in various premiered in 1994, and all at once, Broadway was involved in the music frenzy surrounding AIDS. The trend that Caviano and Lifebeat started—to connect with the high-risk (young) population through popular music—has just begun to catch on in Africa, where AIDS is devastating whole communities.  The Tanzanian government started a program in 2004 called “Ishi” which means “live” in Swahili that produced a rap music video about safe sex, condoms, and abstinence.  The Democratic Republic of the Congo followed suit in 2011 when popular artists got together to rap and sing about how to protect yourself from contracting HIV.

 

With the recent disclosure of rap collective OFWGKTA’s sole singer Frank Ocean (an admitted bi-sexual), the conversations have just begun about sexual identity in hip-hop.  In response to Frank Ocean’s disclosure, TMZ solicited a response from VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta” star and rapper Lil Scrappy who stated he was glad Frank Ocean came out because, according to Scrappy, “gay is a doorway to AIDS.”  This is simply not true.  Although certain segments of the population are higher in the number of HIV infections, the gender that you are attracted to does not determine whether or not you will contract HIV.  HIV/AIDS is a disease that lives in your blood and transmitted by bodily fluids; being gay, bisexual, or straight does not change your vulnerability to the disease.  We now know this from thirty years of research and studies.   

The TMZ host went on to talk about the closeted nature of the hip-hop world, saying that artists feared being shunned if they came out.  Lil Scrappy did say that he was glad that Frank Ocean came out, but his reasons for encouraging openness about sexual orientation were just wrong.  Disclosing sexual orientation does not magically protect a person from getting or transmitting AIDS any more than being closeted.  Nor does it mean that someone will automatically contract HIV.  Because rap artists are so influential, we need them to start talking about AIDS in a more educated way.  Artists, along with fans, need more HIV education.  The fact remains that we need to start talking about AIDS in the music world in general. HIV education must take place at all levels, even in the music industry, lest it continue to suffer in silence.  This silence, to impressionable fans, could mean the difference between life and death.  Twenty-years later, it might be time for a mainstream, chart-topping artist to make another anthem.

 

 

 

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Lifebeat’s beginning, and still today the organization goes on tour with famous artists, and brings awareness to communities that are at high risk of having unprotected sex; young people in New York City.  Though Bob Caviano died of AIDS in September of 1992, his organization remains strong.  Today, Lifebeat also supports a program called “Hearts & Voices” that brings music and performers to people living in AIDS facilities in the New York area.  “Hearts & Voices,” brings joy and humanity to these communities, spreading the message that we haven’t forgotten, and we’re still here.

 

Lifebeat has an impressive history of working with famous and successful performers, including artists who participate in benefit concerts, and also artists who invite Lifebeat to go on tour with them, spreading the word about protecting yourself across the nation.  In the past, Lifebeat performances have included Mary J. Blige, Pink, The Dave Mathews Band, Wu Tang Clan, The Beastie Boys, Blink 182, Alicia Keys, Destiny’s Child, Elton John, Idina Menzel, Maroon 5, Phoenix, Plain White T’s, Ke$ha, Busta Rhymes, and Joe Jonas among many others.  It’s pretty cool to be behind the same cause as all of these artists.  We’re definitely not alone.

To cop some tickets for Wiz Khalifa (with Mac Miller), Madonna, and Coldplay, head over to www.ticketmaster.com before they’re all gone!

For more information on Lifebeat and its various programs, including “Hearts and Voices”, head over to  www.lifebeat.org.

--Virginia Marshall

GET DOWN Youth Blogger

@vrosemarshall

virginiarosemarshall@college.harvard.edu

 

No More Stigma Film Series Kicks Off at Maysles Cinema Harlem

The husband can barely look his wife in the eye when she accuses him of having unprotected sex with other women.  The husband steals glances and shoots back denials, never quite looking her directly in the eye.  The wife continues.  She accuses him of infecting her with HIV.  The husband responds with the accusation that it might have been her ex-boyfriend that gave it to her, and she in turn, gave it to him.  A typical argument between husband and wife, except that the husband has three wives and this conversation was captured by a documentary crew in a rural village in modern day Zambia, Africa.  This scene in the film “The Carrier”, a must-see feature length documentary film by first-time director Maggie Betts, serves as a gap closer between the HIV epidemic among African Americans in the U.S. and our distant “cousins” on the continent.  As I watched the film, I could not help but feel connected.

Still Image From "The Carrier"

Albert Maysles (seated) and Maggie Betts, director, "The Carrier" at the No More Stigma Film Series

“The Carrier” was the first feature film shown at the debut of GET DOWN and Maysles Cinema’s No More Stigma Film Series on Thursday, June 21^st.   The evening opened with a sneak preview super trailer from another first-time director Mike Brown.  “25 To Life” chronicles the aftermath of former Howard University student William Brawner’s stunning announcement that he was HIV positive.   The forthcoming feature documentary captured the reaction of William’s close friends, former Howard classmates, and family to his public disclosure on commercial radio.  According to the film, William’s mother instructed him at age two to never disclose this HIV status.  It was this, states William, that caused him to suppress this secret so deep down inside, that as a sexually active young adult, he was promiscuous and had unprotected sex.  The feature film will chronicle William’s redemptive journey to find past lovers and make amends with those his decisions have impacted, including his protective mother. 

Still Image From "25 To Life"

Peelahr Moore and Leah Thompson, producers, "25 To Life" at the No More Stigma Film Series

 

According to “25 To Life” producer Leah Thompson, the film includes interviews with his mother, wife, and a few of those past lovers.  The full-length film has had a few test screenings and according to director Brown “A number of people who have seen the latest cut of  "25 To Life" have said that the film will be an explosive conversation starter around sex, STDs, relationships, and beyond.  To help us keep the dialogue productive, we will enlist the support and assistance of experts and organizations such as the Balm in Gilead, Black AIDS Institute, the CDC, and the NAACP, to name a few.”  “25 To Life” has received funding and support from organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Sundance Documentary Institute, and IDA.

Q&A Panel at the No More Stigma Film Series. From left: Adrian Guzman, Center For HIV Law & Policy, director Maggie Betts, producers Leah Thompson and Peelahr Moore, David Lopez, Harlem United and moderator De'Von Christopher, President &CEO Bleu Life Media.

De'Von Christopher and Jessica Green, Cinema Director.

 

A post-screening Q&A, was moderated by De’Von Christopher, president and CEO of Bleu Life Media (Bleu Magazine), included the filmmakers along with Adrian Guzman of the Center For HIV Law and Policy/TeenSENSE and David Lopez of Harlem United. The conversation became quite spirited around the issue of criminalization of HIV, and whether someone who is HIV positive and has unprotected sex without disclosing their status should be prosecuted as a criminal.  GET DOWN covered this topic last year’s in the blog “Is It A Crime? A Look At HIV Criminalization in the U.S.”  Stopping by the event was Maysles Institute Founder Albert Maysles, who felt strongly that the world needed to see these films and that “The Carrier” is a film that deserves distribution.  We’re with you Mr. Maysles.  We’re with you.

The No More Stigma Film Series will continue on August 23^rd, October 30^th and December 1^st for World Aids Day 2012.  Doors are 6:30pm and the screening starts at 7:30pm.

To stay up to date on the series, FRIEND US at http://www.facebook.com/getdownpsa and join the Maysles Cinema mailing list at www.mayslesinstitute.org.

To support and find out more about Maggie Bett’s “The Carrier”, go to http://www.facebook.com/thecarrierfilm and visit their website here http://www.thecarrierfilm.com/.

Check out Mike Brown’s “25 To Life” here https://www.facebook.com/25ToLifeFilm and join their mailing list here http://25tolifefilmsite.com/.

For more information on the No More Stigma Film Series and upcoming films, check out www.facebook.com/getdownpsa and www.mayslesinstitute.org.

Read.  Share.  Discuss.  Educate.

--Kim J. Ford

GET DOWN Creator/Executive Producer

Getdownpsa2008@gmail.com

Cool Finds, Good Cause. Shopping For HIV Awareness.

Fifty dollars for a pair of (RED) Chuck Taylors, $30 for vintage denim jeans worn to perfect elasticity, $10 spent on a red triple nylon cord ID bracelet with an engraving of an iconic red ribbon, and the total portion spent going to AIDS/ HIV awareness makes it all priceless.  The fashion industry has been a long time beacon of inspiration, hope, and bold change throughout the world.  Within the past decade the fashion industry has used its power to start making a difference with a cause – to spread awareness on the AIDS/ HIV epidemic.  Organizations and campaigns such as the popular (RED) campaign, Housing Works, Until There is a Cure, and Designers Against AIDS are a few that have taken a stand against the fight against AIDS, one t-shirt and bracelet at a time.

 

“In America we ignore HIV/AIDS problem and we need to erase the stigma and restart the conversation.  By wearing our bracelets you’re saying this still matters,” said Nora Hanna, Executive Director of the Until There’s A Cure organization.  Until There is a Cure is a organization that started in 1993 and was the first to use bracelets to raise awareness for a cause.  Through selling these bracelets they have been able to fund research and education towards the cause of finding a cure.  Hanna said that the organization was able to “reinvest 22 million dollars back into the cause”, which is 85 percent of the total proceeds.  “When you buys a bracelet, what you're doing is making sure the next generation is born free of HIV,” said Hanna.

Housing Works, another organization dedicated to helping with the plight of the homeless and people diagnosed with HIV/ AIDS, uses vintage fashion and furniture to help support those who have been abandoned due to being infected with the virus.  After 22 years in business they have created twelve spacious and trendy thrift stores /coffee shops set up all around New York City; contributing 100 percent of their funds in support for their community healthcare centers, providing homes for the homeless, and job rehabilitation.  With a wide selection of affordable yet trendy clothes, books, and furniture; buying from this store is not just buying for a cause, but also buying in style.

“Recycling is very much in vogue, thrift is the ultimate recycle, your taking old pieces of furniture home and giving it new life; and that's what we seek to do with people, we seek to bring people back to life, by offering them our resources. So by buying our products, your helping give people a second chance on life,” said President and Co-founder of Housing Works Charles King.

According to Kin, buying products from the organization’s thrift stores and coffee shops, helps by keeping the organizations many programs running.  Programs as in health home care, AIDS adult day health care, primary care, mental health services, housing for people with chemical dependency, job opportunities, and legal services.  Housing Works was created in response to his and the other founders role in the organization ACT UP.  Being apart of the ACT UP housing committee, they were concerned with the housing of homeless diagnosed with HIV/ AIDS and the government's lack of involvement for these people.

“We have found in the past, there is a sort of cynicism and lack of knowledge among youth, especially those that were not born yet or were too young when AIDS first broke out.  AIDS is rarely talked about now and is seen as something that can be managed or even scarier as something that is very distant to their existence,” said Ninette Murk, founder and creative director of Designers Against AIDS. “To overcome these obstacles what we thought we would do is present the message through things people are genuinely interested in, so that is why we chose to marry fashion, celebrities and the safe sex message.  By receiving the message through their idols and role models, instead of preaching and other doom-like ways, we hope this message strikes a chord with them and stays with them”.

Designers Against AIDS (DAA) is an international organization that specifically targets spreading awareness of AIDS/ HIV to the youth of the world.   DAA promotes awareness by using international celebrity support and using designers to change the stigmas behind the virus.  The DAA collaborates with many international designers, one of its most recent collaborations was with H&M’s Fashions Fight on AIDS.  H&M Fashion Fight on AIDS collection uses tribal patterns and fun colors to appeal to a young audience, and even more appealing is that 50% of proceeds of the collection goes to organizations supporting the HIV/AIDS movement.

“Our core activities mostly revolve around raising awareness among youth and educating volunteers from around the world about how to make fun and effective campaigns to use back in their own countries. This is big job and we work in diverse ways to keep the message fresh and relevant, that is one of our signature traits,” said Murk.

Safe Sax co-founder Chris Wilkerson said his company supports not only HIV/AIDS awareness but also an openness in discussion of all things usually quieted in society, which is exemplified through the transparency of their fashionable bag designs.  Safe Sax bags are transparent bags, coming in all types of designs, on of which including bags with usable condoms lined on the sides.

“The idea is really about being open, and about what you have open and transparent for everyone to see,” said Wilkerson.

 

One of the most popular campaigns is (RED).  (RED) partners with brands such as Converse, Apple, and Starbucks to help spread awareness by giving part of their (RED) products proceeds to HIV/AIDS relief organizations.  According to the (RED) campaign’s website, close to 190 million dollars was raised by the purchase of (RED) products and was given to the Global Fund to help eliminate the virus in countries like Ghana, Rwanda, and South Africa.  It's important to see that people can make the biggest difference in the smallest ways; simply by going out out and buying even a cup of coffee from Starbucks can save a person's life. 

For me personally, I think that by going out and buying these products we can truly make the world of a difference.  Consider where you spend your $20 dollars before you purchase the next pair of kicks, t-shirt or rubber bracelet.  Even in doing so, that’s only the monetary contribution.   We as young people should keep the conversation going, not ignore the subject, and understand why wear these cloths, in order to make the ultimate fight for the cause.

Check out the campaigns and where to buy here:

http://www.redcampaign.org/dev/

http://www.housingworks.org/

http://until.org/

http://www.designersagainstaids.com/

http://www.safesax.com/

--Kyle Sweet

GET DOWN Youth Blogger

kylesweet2013@gmail.com