Into the Registry: An Artist Member and Community Space (February 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 Sho Akita led a conversation connected to his current web gallery, Scan Your Passport. He was joined by photographer, curator, and Visual AIDS artist member Kairon Liu and political sociologist Laura Bisaillon. Drawing from the themes in the gallery and their own personal experiences and research, the panelists considered the ongoing challenges and stigmas for people living with HIV connected to border control, travel, immigration, and surveillance.

Bios:

Sho Akita is an independent film and video programmer based in Tokyo where he organizes a series of screening events called Normal Screen. He was Visual AIDS' eighth International Curatorial Resident. The residency was postponed and took place virtually in 2021, and he and Visual AIDS organized an panel session, streaming and translation project. Sho continued his research on the Japanese artist Teiji Furuhashi, and conducted in-person research in New York City in 2022 as a Asian Cultural Council fellow.

Kairon Liu (b.1992, Taipei, Taiwan) graduated from the Department of Graphic Communication, Shih Hsin University. As an artist, curator, and photographer, Liu's practice reflects his observations on diverse beliefs in human society by creating narratives exploring issues related to religion, illness, and universal values. Since 2017, Liu has been developing Humans as Hosts, a project focused on understanding the living situation of people with HIV and heightening awareness about AIDS. In collaboration with social networks, NGOs, and public health authorities worldwide, Liu gets to know HIV-positive individuals and invites them into his work. The resulting images/archives that he created with the participants can be viewed as the proof/disproof of stereotypes, prejudices, and stigmatization produced by societies.

Liu's work was awarded as the National Winner in Taiwan by SONY World Photography Awards; from 2014 to 2021, his artworks have been exhibited at such venues in Springfield, New York City, D.C., London, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Yilan. Liu has also worked as an art project manager and curator. He has managed several exhibitions and artfests at Taipei Artist Village, Treasure Hill Artist Village, MoCA Taipei, Taitung Art Museum, Tina Keng Gallery, and TKG+.

Laura Bisaillon is sociologist and associate professor at University of Toronto. A social researcher, much of her work has focused on HIV-related policy and medical examination in the Canadian immigration system. Her book Screening Out (2022) and film The Unmaking of Medical Inadmissibility (2020) are examples of her focus on this area. Her work has been supported by the Swiss Brocher Foundation and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences. She is a VA artist member and lead reviews editor for the visual studies journal, Imaginations.

J. Hartz is a painter, printmaker and mixed media artist currently residing in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Hartz received her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). She received her BFA from West Chester University of Pennsylvania (Summa Cum Laude) and attended the California College of the Arts in Oakland California.

Miguel Alvarez's work stems from the understanding of different Occult practices. He examines dreams, nightmares, and fears, all which is often portrayed through figurative and nonrepresentational imagery, bizarre objects, tales of fantasy and the symbolism that surround our curiosity.