Into the Registry: An Artist Member and Community Space (April 2023)

Following this, the curator of our current web gallery elaborates on the inspiration informing their selection of artworks from our Artist+ Registry, a database of work by artists living with HIV, and those who are no longer with us. The curator is joined by several other artists, creatives, and thinkers to discuss relevant themes in the web gallery.

For this iteration of the series, curator Ivy Kwan Arce led a conversation connected to her web gallery, 最初, lxs primerxs, 第一, the firsts. She was joined by activist and facilitator Johnny Manzon-Santos and photographer Henny Garfunkel. Through a contemplative conversation inspired by the gallery, the panelists reflected on their memories of leaders, artists, friends, and community that shaped and defined early AIDS activism.

Bios:

Ivy Kwan Arce (she/her), a Chinese American activist, artist, and HIV+ since 1990, has fought for HIV/AIDS causes with AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), Treatment Action Group (TAG), People With AIDS (PWA) Health Group, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA), and God's Love We Deliver. She fought for access to medication, clinical trials, and prevention measures like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). As a federal HIV and AIDS Planning Council member from 1995-1999, she distributed Ryan White Title I funds to patients. In 2021, Kwan Arce organized the ACT UP Health Fair at Reclaim Pride with Treatment Action Group (TAG). She is a Whitney Biennial 2022 featured artist in a collaboration with Julie Tolentino, an Art Center College of Design graduate, and the chair of Arts and Institutions for Community Board 2 in Manhattan. She is married with two HIV-negative children.

Johnny Manzon-Santos (he/him) lives on unceded Ohlone Land in Oakland, California. As a coach and facilitator, he invites people to embrace their whole selves, to tell their truths, and to cultivate healing and reconciliation in the process. Johnny is drawn to projects involving memory work. He is co-curator of What I Miss?, the online collective memoir celebrating the life of Black Gay writer, educator and person living with HIV, B.Michael Hunter. While living in New York in the 1990s, he co-founded GAPIMNY: Empowering Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islanders; Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS; and The Audre Lorde Project: a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color center for community organizing.

Henny Garfunkel (she/her) is a New York-based photographer who specializes in both portraits and documentary photography. A fixture on the international film circuit since 1993, she has photographed at the Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, Venice, Berlin, San Francisco and Tribeca Film Festivals. Her portraits appear regularly in magazines including Entertainment Weekly, In Style, The New York Times, People, Elle, Time and many international publications. Her celebrity work has been exhibited at the New York and Sundance Film Festivals, and in private galleries worldwide.

A self taught photographer, Henny began photographing while traveling in Greece in the 1970s with a simple point and shoot camera. Since the, she has developed a humble, casual, almost accidental style. She likes to react to the world, rather than pose it. She's most comfortable on the street, and relies on serendipity to provide her with her best material.

David Jester (he/him) has done many disciplines from printmaking to painting but received his BFA from VCU and MFA from Rutgers in Sculpture. He currently lives in Palm Springs, California, where he paints full time. In the past 4 ½ years he has made 200 oils of men in pools. Pools for him are metaphor rich environments. They are worlds that exist next to and are a part of the broader world, much like the gay community. People inside the pool looking out or those outside looking in have a slightly distorted view of each other.

In his new work he plans on exploring what community has meant to him over the years, what it is like growing older in it, and will also address some of the same issues as the pools, though in a less subtle way. I have included one image of the next works, a piece I am just finishing up, “Long Term Survivor”. Long Term survivor relates to both living with HIV as well as aging. I think as you get older community dynamics change. No longer an object of desire, I placed myself naked and ignored in this bar environment.

Patrick DeCastro (he/him) Born in Haiti. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1983 and AIDS in 1993. He studied Interior Design at Pratt Institute Graduate School, and ended up in Miami. DeCastro always wanted to be a fine artist, especially a painter, but had a lot more fear and reservation about his practice. His drawing style has changed from naïf to a personal style developed from different perspectives. DeCastro's work covers many themes including climate change, cultural identity, gay identity, dreams, racism, and spirituality. Animal spirits in the art represent different moments in his life. He recently did a residency for 3 months in Quito at No Lugar, as he needed to reorganize his life and revive his practice. Most of his paintings take many years to complete.