![]() Burns, Avram Finkelstein, Joe De Hoyos, and John Chaich – to create new versions. Visual AIDS recently commissioned four artists - A.K. Their story is a source of hope because we now know that advocacy can bring change, but it is also a serious reminder that there is more to be done, because AIDS is not over. We honor their talent, foresight, and dedication in sparking a zeitgeist that pushed the acronyms “HIV” and “AIDS” into everyday speech. A small group of people changed the world, with an elegantly simple act. Marking the 20th anniversary of the creation of the red ribbon for AIDS is an acknowledgment of the merits of art and necessity of artists. And even if it is only an easy first step, that’s great with me. But it is, at least, an easy first step.”įounding Visual AIDS Executive Director Patrick O’Connell was quoted the same year in The New York Times, “People want to say something, not necessarily with anger and confrontation all the time. The ribbon does not feed people or protect them from discrimination or provide leadership or a cure. When asked about whether a ribbon was enough, the late Rodger McFarlane, executive director of Broadway Cares, who along with Tom Viola of Equity Fights AIDS worked immediately with Visual AIDS to place them in the public, said, “I never want this to seem like anything more than visibility. (The Red Ribbon) story is a source of hope because we now know that advocacy can bring change. ![]() And in a series of meetings in April and May of 1991 members of the Visual AIDS Artists’ Caucus decided that a piece of grosgrain ribbon, twisted in a simple loop and hand-stitched to a gold safety pin, would be an appropriate icon to show support and compassion for those with AIDS and their caregivers. Or caring for dying friends, or working collectively as groundbreaking AIDS activists. AIDS changed contemporary art, and world culture, forever.Ī multitude of talented people had already died and scores more were ill. In 1991, the downtown arts scene was also an unimaginable scene of devastation. Today we know their work simply as the Red Ribbon an icon that became most poignant at the height of the AIDS crisis. That’s how long it has been since the Visual AIDS Artists’ Caucus created what they called “The Ribbon Project.” These New York City artists were compelled to collaboratively create a symbol that was easy to reproduce, that would be cheap, and that would make people think about AIDS. ![]() Red like blood, red like passion and anger, and red like love. I have had many dreams of it: one is a bonfire of ribbons. Something about the redness of the red ribbon continues to haunt me.
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