Visual AIDS and SFMOMA Present: A Celebration of Jerome Caja

Visual AIDS partnered with SFMOMA to honor artist Jerome Caja (1958–1995).

Artists Justin Vivian Bond and Cliff Hengst, as well as Anthony Cianciolo, founder of The Jerome Project, discussed Caja’s life, work, and legacy, in a conversation moderated by Kyle Croft, Visual AIDS Programs Manager, and introduced by Esther McGowan, Visual AIDS Executive Director, and Claudia La Rocco, Editorial Director of SFMOMA's Open Space.

A San Francisco Art Institute alum, Caja was a powerful visual artist, drag performer, and provocateur who transgressed the supposed boundaries of gender, performance, and art in the nightclub and art-world scenes of San Francisco during the late 1980s and early ‘90s. In his visual art practice, Caja was known for using unconventional materials — ranging from nail polish and eyeliner to human ashes — to express themes of spirituality, mortality, and sexuality.