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As an activist and photojournalist, I’m far more attracted to projects and assignments offering real stories from people with lived experiences. There’s something powerful about raw stories from the folks on the front lines — through spoken word, art, music, or photography. For me, these mediums provide a clear view into the human experience that is unmatched.
One exhibit conveying all of this is Lost and Found: Safer Sex Activism, currently on display at One Gallery in West Hollywood, Calif. Curated by David Evans Frantz and Hannah Grossman, the exhibit is presented by the ONE Archives Foundation, which maintains the largest repository of LGBTQ materials in the world, at the University of Southern California.
The exhibit features nearly 100 groundbreaking and iconic sex activism archives from ONE Archives at USC, including works from Gran Fury, Clean Needles Now, the 1990s Oakland-based AIDS Project of the East Bay, Color Coded, Gay Men of Color Consortium, Los Angeles Photographic Studies, and Gay Men’s Health Crisis as well as rare items that have never been presented publicly.
As a black man living with HIV, I am troubled by narratives that show only parts of an entire story — ones that fail to include the vast contributions and experiences of black populations who have carried the heaviest burdens of HIV and AIDS as well as those from Latino populations. I always ask, “Where is all the positive work, contributions, and accomplishments of blacks and Latinos?”
One Gallery is located in West Hollywood at 626 N. Robertson Blvd., just north of Melrose Avenue. Admission to the gallery is free with a suggested donation of $5. You don’t want to miss it.
Click through to see images from the exhibit.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, two out of five black men who have sex with men and one in five Latino MSM are living with HIV. In today’s environment with the amazing advances in treatment that have been proven to prevent new diagnoses, prolonging and improving life, these numbers are staggering. If by chance you happen to be curious, one in 10 white MSM in Los Angeles are living with HIV. Moreover, many folks still aren’t even on treatment.
Dr. Neal Baer, a consultant for Lost and Found, hopes this show will draw attention to the atrocious rates present here in L.A. “This show puts the microscope on historical documents and contemporary efforts that illuminate an urgency that still exists,” said Baer.
In an environment where HIV still carries a tremendous amount of guilt, shame, and stigma, these archives are proof that safe sex messages can be playful, funny, informative, and most of all inclusive. I asked two friends for their thoughts on the importance of safer sex campaigns and inclusivity.
"My first instinct is to say that safe sex campaigns are not vital. But that's because they are rarely relevant or relatable. If they don't represent the people who are actually affected, doing the things that they actually do, they will have no effect. The campaigns need to be relatable to affect the reader. That's writing 101. Until things are honest, real, relatable, and representative of the populations they affect they won't work. We will continue with that generic image of gorgeous white men with perfect teeth preaching about condom use and abstinence; and they will continue to fall on deaf ears. Tell better stories." — Corey Saucier, artist, writer.
"We’re in a sexual revolution. People can find a new sexual partner every day of the week using a cell phone. At the same time, the rate of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among black and Hispanic communities is on the rise. So now, more than ever, we need greater effort spent educating communities on ways to have safer sex and providing resources to implement safer sex practices." — Aaron Celious, Ph.D., director of research & strategy, Maroon Society.
As soon as I walked into the gallery I couldn’t help but notice an image with black men. Right away that made me feel included, and to be honest, it also got me to lower my guard because I didn’t want to see a bunch of images of smiling white guys giving the false sense that everything is all good.
While walking through the gallery I noticed safe sex messages from when I started going out, and I thought, Why did it change? I even heard folks saying things like “Oh, I remember this,” and “Wow, this really brings back memories.”
The art and imagery on many of the items on display are not images you would see today for any sex education campaign. In fact, there’s no such thing as sex education today. The images are of real people doing real-life things. So I guess back then they were telling much better stories.
When asked if this show will help to encourage the use of thoughtful, yet powerful messages, Executive Director of the ONE Archives Foundation, Jennifer Gregg replies, “Giving the current political climate, we are seeing an elevated interest in how the LGBTQ community responded to oppression in the past. We hope the dialogue and conversation around HIV/AIDS over the past few decades will inspire younger generations to examine ongoing dipartites in sexual health equality and serve as a springboard for continued activism.”
Evans Frantz, the co-curator, says that he hopes the exhibition sheds new light on how activists, artists, and community educators in the 1980s and 1990s galvanized public awareness about the crisis and forms of protection through education and empowerment. For many of the projects, organizations, and materials highlighted in Lost & Found, these efforts were grassroots and DIY.
For example, the collective Clean Needles Nowoperated a needle exchange, then illegal in the state of California, to curb HIV transmission among intravenous drug users. Many of the posters on display were produced by or in collaboration with community organizations, such as those from the AIDS Project of the East Bay or the Gay Men of Color Consortium, Los Angeles. Easily distributed with accessible information, the posters present safer sex messaging that is both empowering and sexy.
By highlighting the tactics of previous generations, the exhibition seeks to affirm and inspire contemporary efforts to end the ongoing AIDS crisis. While it is rarely the topic of headline news, HIV is still a pervasive issue in the U.S.
In Los Angeles County, 40 percent of African-American, 20 percent of Latino, and 10 percent of white MSM are HIV-positive. Today, for those living with and without HIV there are numerous options available for prevention, protection, and wellness, including PrEP and antiretroviral drugs that protect those who take them from acquiring the virus or transmitting it. However, critically, HIV transmission and stigma persist, particularly in marginalized communities. "Lost & Found" shows that the fight in the 1980s and 1990s to protect one another is a fight that has not ended.
“Even if one lived through that compelling, tragic, and ultimately hopeful era, one is reminded of the courage, wit, and humor that compassionate individuals mounted to protect everyone from the scourge of HIV,” said Baer.
This exhibit is a wonderful, eye-opening experience on the history of the safe sex moment that should not be missed. Most important, the goal of the gallery is to present several exhibitions each year drawn from the rich resources of the One Archives at the USC Libraries and the vast queer history that exists today.
To that end, expect future shows that will strive to show the dynamism of the LGBTQ movement through a variety of materials, lenses, and topics.
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