Eric & Jose

We are excited to publish another installment of our oral history project, "The Body As An Archive," featuring José Luis Cortés and Eric Rhein in conversation. Both artists were included in the 1995 exhibition The First 10, which featured works by the first ten artists represented in the Visual AIDS Archive. As long-term HIV/AIDS survivors with a rich mutual history, José and Eric unpack the complexities of their childhoods, their introduction to art-making, living through their HIV-related illnesses and early treatment methods, governmental corruption, and the importance of stewarding a legacy. In an additional video, José and Eric each take a moment to more intimately showcase certain pieces of their work, discuss various ephemera they’ve gathered, and connect with Constantine Jones about the intergenerational differences in experience living with HIV.

Watch, listen to, or read the transcripts of their videos here: https://www.oralhistories.visu...

A full list of participating artists is below:

Published:

Shirlene Cooper + Lucas Michael
Jorge Bordello + Beto Pérez
Curtis Carman + Milton Garcia Ninja
José Luis Cortés
+ Eric Rhein

Coming Soon:

Joe De Hoyos + Alexander Hernandez
Sunil Gupta + Carlos Gutierrez-Solana
Cea (Constantine Jones) + Nancer LeMoins
Glammy Rose Spencer + River Huston
Kairon Liu + Marguerite Van Cook
Mike Moreno + Joey Terrill
Reverend Joyce McDonald + Rafael Sánchez
Luna Luis Ortiz + Anthony Rosado

Ericrhein Selfi Mana Croped5Bca06980Fddc6 44822048

Eric Rhein

6360 108799587053 3401770 N35Bc9Fd258742D6 03749480

Jose Luis Cortes