fierce pussy

For The Record by fierce pussy for Visual AIDS is a series of newsprint posters, stickers, postcards and downloadable broadsides, along with an exhibition at Printed Matter for Day With(out) Art 2013, the 24th anniversary of the project.

For the Record mourns the loss of friends, family, lovers, artists and activists during the AIDS crisis and engages in a dialogue about the erasure of personal and collective memories from the historical record through this loss. Through poignant and powerful variations of the phrase “If he/she/they were alive today…,” fierce pussy explores the daily aspects of living not only with HIV/AIDS, but as a person in the world, and asks viewers to extract their own memories to consider our personal and social relationship to the AIDS crisis in the present.

For The Record broadside posters can be DOWNLOADED here by clicking the button to the right.

fierce pussy also presented an installation at Printed Matter from November 23-December 13 in which the site is used as a newsstand, a site of information, discourse and exchange to engage in a dialogue about the AIDS crisis past, present and future, displayed the broadsides in Printed Matter’s windows as front pages of the daily news. Take-away versions of the newsprint broadside as well as a postcards and stickers are available will supplies last.

For the Record, is a new iteration of their 2010 project Get Up Everybody and Sing, originally conceived for the White Columns presentation of the exhibition ACT UP NEW YORK: Activism, Art, and the AIDS Crisis, 1987 – 1993 (Carpenter Center of the Arts, Harvard University and White Columns). fierce pussy would like to thank Denniston Hill, where they had a residency that provided them the time to work intensively on the project. fierce pussy has continued to engage in a reclaiming of language and public space with installations and exhibitions in galleries and museums.

Museums, universities, activist organizations, art institutions and individuals across the country are invited to download fierce pussy’s broadsides and display them in their venues, creating simultaneous presentations of For the Record to forge national solidarity around the ongoing AIDS crisis.

In conjunction with Day With(out) Art and For The Record, Visual AIDS presents a series of public programs: TALK, WALK, SING

Talk: Starting the day at Artists Space Books & Talks, will be a public forum exploring the importance of sharing singular moments in personal stories as a way of understanding and responding to the ongoing AIDS crisis. Join fierce pussy and Risa Puleo along with artists and writers Alysia Abbott, Cathy Busby and Orlando Ferrand. Historian and writer Christa Orth will facilitate group sharing of stories. Artists Space Books & Talks, 55 Walker Street, NYC from 1:00-3:00 PM

Walk: A walk through SoHo and the West Village—led by writer and curator Alex Fialho—will acknowledge and activate living history. In a spirit of remembrance, brief readings will be held at the last residential addresses of Joe Brainard, Keith Haring, and Cookie Mueller; the site of Marsha P. Johnson’s death; the AIDS memorial along the Hudson River Greenway, and others. Walk starts at Artists Space (55 Walker St.) and ends at Rusty Knot (425 West St.) from 3:00-4:00 PM

Sing: Day With(out) Art will end at Scissor Sundays at The Rusty Knot tying it to the power of music and acknowledging bars/night clubs as one of many sites of LGBTQ liberation, solidarity and cultural production. Enjoy deep house and disco sets by DJ Amber Valentine and others. Dance, sing, celebrate and continue the conversation. Rusty Knot, 425 West Street from 4:00-6:00 PM

ABOUT:

fierce pussy is a collective of queer women artists working in New York City. Formed in 1991, the members of fierce pussy came together through their shared involvement in AIDS activism. During a decade of increasing political mobilization around gay rights, fierce pussy brought lesbian identity and visibility directly into the streets with posters, stickers, t-shirts and various public interventions. They have continued to engage in a reclaiming of language and public space with installations and exhibitions in galleries and museums. Originally composed of a fluid and often shifting cadre of dykes, four of the original core members —Nancy Brooks Brody, Joy Episalla, Zoe Leonard, and Carrie Yamaoka— continue to work together.

Visual AIDS launched Day With(out) Art in 1989 as a day of action and mourning in response to the AIDS crisis in recognition of World AIDS Day. At its height Day With(out) Art was a collaborative project of an estimated 8,000 national and international museums, galleries, art centers, AIDS Service Organizations, libraries, high schools and colleges. In 1997, Day Without Art became a day WITH art, to recognize and promote increased programming of cultural events that draw attention to the continuing pandemic. Today, Day With(out) Art, highlights the proactive programming of art projects by artists living with HIV/AIDS, and art about AIDS, that are taking place around the world.