World AIDS Day 2020: A Day Without Art
For several years, the PMA has commemorated Day Without Art, an international day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis, by shrouding works of art and writing personal reflections that honor the movement and the countless artists whose lives were lost to the crisis.
Though we can’t gather in person this year to commemorate Day Without Art, below we highlight past PMA staff reflections as a moment of pause, reflection, and solidarity.
Lauren Cross on Dead Pearl Diver by Benjamin Paul Akers
This piece of white marble was formed deep below the surface of the Earth, over the course of millennia. In 1858, artist Benjamin Paul Akers transformed the slab into The Dead Pearl Diver. Over a hundred years later, his sculpture is still here. Paradoxically, Akers used the durable material of stone to represent his subject’s fragility and mortality. Stone memorials and graves have a similar dual symbolism. Not all lives lost to AIDS are commemorated in stone, but Day With(out) Art and World AIDS Day also serve to remind us of both life and death, permanence and impermanence, endurance and loss.
Jaime DeSimone on Chrysanthemums by Anna Eliza Hardy
Born in Bangor, Maine, in 1839, artist Anna Eliza Hardy was once described as “the finest still life specialist in Maine in the nineteenth century.” She executed her paintings with a delicate handling of color and paint, capturing the quality and freshness of nature, as in this painting of chrysanthemums. Here, a handful of cut white flowers, with countless translucent petals, surrounds an empty vase.
Growing up, flowers were a common aspect of my upbringing because my uncle was a florist. Flowers marked moments of great joy and unimaginable sadness. For me, this painting is a quiet reminder of a relative’s lost fight to AIDS. My family struggled to imagine a world without him in our lives; we honored his life with an abundance of floral arrangements, sharing stories through tears and laughter. Flowers, like those portrayed in Hardy’s painting, provide a moment of reflection. Today, this painting is hidden from view to recognize Day With(out) Art for World AIDS Day. Shrouded and hidden, it’s a sobering reminder of a loved one who left us far too early.
Stephanie Visciglia on Tim Rollins
My friend Tim McCarthy, who was involved with the LGBTQI community, recently passed away. He self-identified as a “gay video historian,” who spent his life being an activist through his work as a documentary filmmaker. Tim’s passionate character and role as a mentor and artist taught people how to use their voice for action and change. This reminded me of the work of Tim Rollins, who used his role as an educator to effect change in the lives of so many young artists—teaching them that their voices are valuable and need to be heard.
Whitney Stanley on The Drop Sinister—What Shall We Do with It? by Harry Willson Watrous
Since our earliest recorded history, images have been produced as propaganda, and as a method of advocating for social equality. In The Drop Sinister—What Shall We Do with It?, Harry Willson Watrous criticizes Jim Crow segregation by using imagery representing contemporary religious and political ideals. Why use images instead of words? Because images are often more engaging, emotive, and immediate than any other type of language. Without art, we lose the ability to communicate impactfully and create social change. Without visual and expressive documents such as paintings, it is also far more difficult to empathize with our history.
Donna Galluzzo, Executive Director, Frannie Peabody Center
When I was very young, I lost my uncle to a senseless act of hatred and violence. He was killed because of his sexual orientation. As the crime was being investigated, we learned that he had been living a secret life as a closeted gay man. I don’t know if he would have survived the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Either way, he was taken from us too early, as were so many others. Today, the greatest battle we are still fighting is the stigma that is associated with being HIV+. This is something we all have the power to overcome if we just educate ourselves, learn to accept each other, and open our hearts.