Zoe Cudney

Art Is Not Enough But It Cannot Be Ignored

The rapid development of the HIV / AIDS epidemic in the United States was perpetuated by a two-pronged misinformation agenda proliferated by the United States government and the mainstream media; first, a program of erasure and silence, and second, a cultivation of false information including a lack of pressure or funding for adequate medical research and drug development. My research examines the use of art as a tool to counter both of these facets of propaganda. I explore the work of collective Gran Fury as means of asserting visibility for queer communities and of the epidemic itself, but also as means of offering factually-based education on the realities of AIDS, including the government's involvement in the escalation of the health crisis into epidemic. Gran Fury was formed following the installation of a window-piece at the New Museum in 1987 organized by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP).
In a 1989 interview with the group, member Michael Nesline, described the function of the collective, saying “ [ … ] all of us are interested in creating art work—or propaganda—that addresses the AIDS crisis and that will be seen by different parts of the public and affect their understanding of this crisis. It would provoke them, cause a reaction, make them think, and hopefully educate them.” This articulates the lenses through which my research examines the intention and impact of the work of Gran Fury.
Some of these works served as means of provocation, intending to garner a reaction, positive or negative. Others functioned as catalysts for thought by calling attention to inaccuracies and gaps in public thinking about the AIDS / HIV epidemic. Some offered spaces of education, filling and correcting those gaps. While not distinct, these categories offer structures through which to examine the effectiveness of art at countering propagandist narratives.

An early work of the collective, these posters aimed to counter two interconnected, false misrepresentations in mainstream media. First, that heterosexual women did not need to worry about HIV transmission through sex. Second, that primarily white individuals were contracting HIV. One out of sixty-one babies born in New York City were born HIV-positive. The lack of reporting on this statistic was directly reflective of racism as a contributing factor to the broader misrepresentation of AIDS / HIV statistics. These posters are text-heavy compared to much of the group’s later work. They are also bilingual, demonstrating early efforts by Gran Fury to speak to those most impacted by the epidemic but who were simultaneously being ignored and forgotten. Not always successful, similar attempts at intersectionality were a critical struggle for a group composed of mostly white members. It was a requirement of the work, as propagandist narratives about AIDS / HIV were not exclusively false reporting, but also a total lack thereof.