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Visual AIDS announces a new fellowship program to support original writing and scholarship about artists who have been lost to AIDS.
Application Deadline: April 11, 2022
Research fellows will work with Visual AIDS to develop a piece of original writing to be published on our website, drawing on primary sources in the Visual AIDS Archive Project and related resources.
Visual AIDS will provide a $1,000 research stipend and editorial support as part of the fellowship. When possible, we will also connect researchers to estates, families, and friends of artists who have passed away, as well as relevant collections at other archives.
The Visual AIDS Archive Project collects artwork documentation, personal papers, and records pertaining to the lives and work of artists living with HIV and AIDS, as well as those who have passed. The Archive Project was started in 1994 by Frank Moore and David Hirsh as a response to losing not only friends in the AIDS crisis but also the loss of art and materials that often followed. The Archive Project exists as artist collections that are made up of artwork documentation (mainly in the form of slide photographs taken by Visual AIDS volunteers during the 1990s), personal papers such as artist statements, CVs, press clippings, exhibition announcements, correspondence with Visual AIDS, and other objects related to the lives and work of these artists. The files also contain a small number of artists' books, artworks on paper, personal photographs, and personal writing. In the spirit of community archives, our donations have come from artist members, estates, friends, and family members.
The Visual AIDS Archive Project is always open to researchers and the general public by appointment. For more information about our archival holdings and how to schedule a research visit, see here.
Suggested Research Subjects
We welcome research proposals that focus on artists, creative communities, and cultural sites that have been lost to the ongoing AIDS crisis. Research on historically excluded and lesser-known artists will be prioritized.
Applications should focus on artists who are currently represented in our collections. (Future iterations of this fellowship may expand to include artists not represented in our archive.) We have compiled a list of potential research subjects based on our archival holdings:
- Artists with significant research materials (list in formation)
- Container list of artists represented in the Visual AIDS Archive Project
How to Apply
To apply, email a project proposal (maximum 2 pages) and a CV as a single PDF to proposals@visualaids.org by April 11, 2022. Your proposal should:
Clearly state the artist or artists you will research
Introduce yourself and any previous work around AIDS cultural histories
Contextualize your research in relation to existing writing on the artist/subject
List any specific archival collections or primary sources you hope to work with
Note: Due to limited staff capacity, we are not able to coordinate research visits ahead of the April 11 deadline, nor do we expect applicants to have already spent time researching at Visual AIDS.
Eligibility: Anyone conducting original, primary source-based research on HIV-positive artists is encouraged to apply. Enrollment or affiliation with a university is not required. Fellows should be comfortable communicating in English for the purposes of the fellowship and the final published text must be in English.
Travel: We will work with research fellows both in-person and remotely. Visual AIDS will work with researchers outside of New York by sharing scans of relevant materials or coordinating virtual research visits over Zoom. (Note: Due to limited staff capacity, we are not able to offer this service to the general public.) The research stipend may be used for travel expenses, but there is no additional travel funding available at this time.
Key Dates: The deadline for application is April 11, 2022. Applicants will be notified by May 2. Research should be conducted from May to June 2022, with writing published by July 2022.
Questions: If you have any questions about the application process, contact Kyle Croft, Programs Director, at kcroft@visualaids.org. If you would like to know more about our archival holdings for a specific artist, please contact Kailee Faber, Archivist, at kfaber@visualaids.org.