Keith Haring created a number of works to raise awareness of HIV and the growing AIDS epidemic.
On World AIDS Day, panellists consider the intersections between art and health, and the role art has played in HIV and AIDS education, awareness and commemoration.
What are the crossovers between health promotion, AIDS activism and art?
Moderator
Angela Bailey is a curator, artist and President of the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA). Angela recently undertook a curatorial residency with VISUAL AIDS in New York City.
Speakers
Peter Waples-Crowe is a Ngarigo artist living in Melbourne. Peter’s intersecting experiences as an Aboriginal queer man and his work with community health and community arts organisations such as Thorne Harbour Health, The Torch and VACCHO has given him a unique perspective as a practicing artist and community cultural development worker. Peter most recently won the Globe Community award for artist of the year in 2019.
Maude Davey writes and directs theatre, acts in films and on tv and is well-known in Melbourne as a leading contemporary and Neo-Burlesque performer. Much of her work exists within the queer (LGBTQI +) community and she has collaborated with HIV Positive Women organisations in Melbourne and Adelaide, taking workshops and creating performances which illuminate the experience of women living with HIV/AIDS.
The Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt provides a creative outlet for loved ones to commemorate those who have lost their lives to AIDS related complications. Learn the story behind the quilt and the importance of commemoration.
Moderator
William Eicholtz is a contemporary sculptor and was commissioned to create the Courage sculpture by the City of Yarra. The work is dedicated to the legacy of Ralph McLean, Australia’s first openly gay Lord Mayor (City of Fitzroy, 1984) who was a leading advocate for gay rights, social justice and the arts.
Speakers
Geoff Allshorn is graduate researcher studying a social history of HIV/AIDS in Melbourne during what he terms the ‘crisis years’ from 1981-1997. He is also a former committee member for the Quilt Project Melbourne.
David Menadue is former Vice-President and Board Member of Victorian AIDS Council, and former President and Board Member of People living with HIV/AIDS Victoria (now Living Positive Victoria).
How has the AIDS epidemic impacted the art world?
Moderator
Angela Bailey is a curator, artist and President of the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA). Angela recently undertook a curatorial residency with VISUAL AIDS in New York City.
Speakers
Michael Graf is a Melbourne-based visual artist and was co-curator of the TRANSMISSIONS / Archiving HIV/AIDS / Melbourne 1979-2014 exhibition held at the George Paton Gallery at The University of Melbourne.
Dr Kim Donaldson is an artist and curator, and works as a Senior Lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), The University of Melbourne. In 1996 Kim created an art installation that documented her father’s experience of caring for her brother who died from HIV/AIDS-related complications.
Dr Dion Kagan is an editor, critic and former gender studies lecturer. Dion is a long-time queer columnist for The Lifted Brow and has written a book on HIV/AIDS and popular culture.
Dr Ted Gott is Senior Curator of International Art at the NGV. Prior to his role at the NGV, Ted curated Don’t Leave Me This Way: Art in the age of AIDS held at the National Gallery of Australia in 1994.
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