1 December 2021
English captioning available
Multiple languages via Visual Aids website
Today is World AIDS day. Each year since 2017, Casco has partnered with Visual Aids to present their annual commissioned and distributed video program for Day With(out) Art, an international day of action and mourning in response to the ongoing AIDS crisis. During this collaborative annual project organizations worldwide present exhibitions, screenings and public programs to highlight work by HIV+ artists and artworks addressing current issues around AIDS. While this movement has been US-centered, we take part yearly to acknowledge the impact of the virus across international communities. In The Netherlands, for example, these realities resonate through the legacies of queer of color collective Strange Fruit (1989-2002), through the 2018 International AIDS conference in Amsterdam, and the ongoing holistic support of organizations like ShivA – Spiritualiteit, hiv & Aids.
For Day With(out) Art 2021, we will host ENDURING CARE, a program of seven new videos highlighting strategies of community care within the ongoing HIV epidemic:
‘’What does it mean to endure care, and how can care be sustained through decades of crisis? Life-saving antiretroviral medications brought fundamental changes to HIV care in 1996, but there is still no cure or vaccine for HIV. The virus can now be suppressed to the point of being undetectable and untransmittable, but living with HIV also entails adherence to a regimen of daily medication and regular doctors visits, self-advocacy in the face of bureaucracy, and dealing with stigma and misinformation. ENDURING CARE addresses these multiple realities, naming the perseverance of care workers and people living with HIV while also suggesting how medicine and healthcare can be painful, harmful, and difficult to access. In the video program, we hear from long-term survivors about the side effects and medical issues that can come from decades of HIV medication. We meet queer and trans activists in Mexico who are confronting a corrupt healthcare system that fails to provide life-saving medication to people living with HIV. We witness the bold tactics of Black and brown HIV workers in Philadelphia who call out how AIDS organizations can perpetuate stigma and harm even as they purport to provide care.’’
Read the full text on Enduring Care in their Resource Guide, which includes questions and exercises to collectively discuss the films, and allows you to learn more about the ongoing AIDS pandemic through zines, articles, art and other links.
