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

"The Archive Project is emotionally and physically overwhelming. I liken it to visiting the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., or to viewing the AIDS Memorial Quilt... There is reverence, some humor and maybe some surprising names of artists who are ostensibly prisoners or casualties of a war that one may not have necessarily known they were fighting..." Arnold J. Kemp, artist / educator
Browse Work In The Artist Registry
Jun 25, 2025
Announcement

Visual AIDS is hiring an Archive Fellow

We are excited to announce a new initiative at Visual AIDS to highlight and contextualize the work of Black HIV-positive artists in our archive, supported by a grant from the Getty Foundation. We are now accepting applications for an Archive Fellow position to assist with this project.  → 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
Mar 28, 2025
Journal

Dreaming Snakes: Acts of illusion and protest in the work of Sergio Hernández Francés

Research Fellow Jorge Bordello presents the work of Mexican artist Sergio Hernández Francés (1964-1995), who worked across multimedia theater, performance and video. Connecting his early work as an actor and his collaborations with the rock band Santa Sabina to his later experimental video work, Bordello illuminates Sergio’s wide-ranging influence on Mexican cultural history—from the ‘rock en tu idioma’ movement, Mexican video art, and literature. → 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

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