Through Positive Eyes, Fowler Museum at UCLA
Through Positive Eyes is a large-scale photography and storytelling project created in collaboration with more than 130 people living with HIV/AIDS. The exhibition included photography and video by artivists from 10 cities across the globe and a sculptural installation by Los…
Through Positive Eyes is a large-scale photography and storytelling project created in collaboration with more than 130 people living with HIV/AIDS. The exhibition included photography and video by artivists from 10 cities across the globe and a sculptural installation by Los Angeles–based multimedia artist Alison Saar. Together, these works presented a broad picture of the epidemic, ranging from everyday imagery to more abstract meditations on joy, grief, solitude, and resilience. Public programs incorporated live storytelling in the gallery, performed twice weekly by seven Angelenos living with HIV known as the Los Angeles Through Positive Eyes Collective. This multitude of perspectives and voices coalesced around one core tenet: a belief that challenging stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS is the most effective method for combating the epidemic.
The exhibition was organized by the UCLA Art & Global Health Center with the Fowler Museum at UCLA and co-curated by David Gere, director of the UCLA Art & Global Health Center, professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, and founder of MAKE ART/STOP AIDS; Carol Brown, independent curator; Stan Pressner, lighting designer; and Ross Levinson, soundscape composer. The exhibition was made possible by major funding from the Herb Ritts Foundation. It was also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and a gift from Elizabeth and Graeme Gilfillan in honor of Sarah Gilfillan.
The Through Positive Eyes project is co-directed by David Gere and London-based South African photographer and AIDS activist Gideon Mendel.
