Visual AIDS utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.

"There were conflicting responses to AIDS when it hit. Fear. Blame. Homophobia. Guilt. Denial. A sense of doom. There were also heartwarming offers of care, often from strangers. Quilts. Ribbons. Memorials. Banding together. And running away. Some who were sick withdrew, some partied. Some said good bye and tidied things up, some maxed their cards and danced. Some got sicker and sicker while friends either vanished or attended, and wept. Some took their lives alone or with the help of others who hated what they were asked to do. Confusion. Despair. Hope. Anger. Activism. Protest. Exhaustion. Enormous sadness. It was a very hard time, when we learned a lot about truth and love. Thank god for the art." Philip Yenawine
Browse Work In The Artist Registry
Sep 9, 2025
Journal

All This Clamoring for Life: The Performance Art of Frank Green

Research Fellow Timothy E. Bradley explores the work of Frank Green (1957–2013), a performance and installation artist who worked in New York and Ohio. Bradley focuses on The Scarlet Letters, a searing and iconoclastic performance that questioned medical knowledge about AIDS in the mid-1990s. → Read More
Jul 31, 2025
Announcement

Call for Research Proposals

Visual AIDS announces the fourth year of our research fellowship program, which supports original writing and scholarship about artists who have been lost to AIDS. Deadline: October 5, 2025 → Read More
Apr 2, 2025
Journal

In the Eternity of His Life: On Vittorio Scarpati, Joy, and Love

In 1989, Vittorio Scarpati (1953–1989) produced a suite of intricate and expressive drawings while hospitalized at Cabrini Medical Center. The drawings were exhibited the same year in exhibitions organized by his wife, Cookie Mueller, at 56 Bleecker Gallery and his friend, Nan Goldin, at Artists Space. Michele Bertolino reflects on the euphoric undercurrent that shines through Scarpati's work. → Read More

Founded in 1988, Visual AIDS is the only arts organization fully committed to raising AIDS awareness and creating dialogue around HIV issues today, by producing and presenting visual art projects, exhibitions, public forums and publications - while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS. We are committed to preserving and honoring the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement.

 

Staff

Kyle Croft
Executive Director

Shawn Escarciga
Development Director

Elena Guzman
Events and Communications Coordinator

Blake Paskal
Programs Director

Jacs Rodriguez
Community Archivist

 


Board of Directors

Marguerite Van Cook, President

Carlos Gutierrez-Solana, Vice President

Mark Quigley, Treasurer

Katherine Cheairs, Secretary

Antonio Sergio Bessa

Nayland Blake

Jim Hodges

Ricardo Montez