It was vulgar and it was beautiful : how AIDS activists used art to fight a pandemic

Title:

Author:

Lowery, Jack (Writer), author.

Publication Information:

New York : Bold Type Books, 2022.

Edition:

First Edition.

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

pages cm

General Note:

Includes index.

Subject Term:

AIDS (Disease)

AIDS activists.

Communication in art.

ISBN:

9781645036586

Document ID:

SD_ILS:5004594

Availability:

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Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Prize

The story of art collective Gran Fury--which fought back during the AIDS crisis through direct action and community-made propaganda--offers lessons in love and grief.

In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an art collective that called itself Gran Fury formed to campaign against corporate greed, government inaction, stigma, and public indifference to the epidemic.

Writer Jack Lowery examines Gran Fury's art and activism from iconic images like the "Kissing Doesn't Kill" poster to the act of dropping piles of fake bills onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Lowery offers a complex, moving portrait of a collective and its members, who built essential solidarities with each other and whose lives evidenced the profound trauma of enduring the AIDS crisis.

Gran Fury and ACT UP's strategies are still used frequently by the activists leading contemporary movements. In an era when structural violence and the devastation of COVID-19 continue to target the most vulnerable, this belief in the power of public art and action persists.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Editor Lowery debuts with a fascinating study of how art galvanized AIDS activism in the 1980s and '90s. He documents how a small group of activists in New York City developed the symbol of a pink triangle on a black background accompanied by the text "Silence=Death" in 1985 and how the advocacy group ACT UP raised funds by selling T-shirts and buttons emblazoned with the graphic. The image's "widespread acceptance," Lowery writes, "also articulated that a community actually existed." Other early artworks associated with ACT UP included a Pride parade float designed to look like a concentration camp and a 1987 installation at the New Museum of Contemporary Art that was inspired by the Nuremberg trials. The group behind that exhibit became Gran Fury, an affiliate of ACT UP New York focused on art. Lowery thrillingly recounts Gran Fury's use of advertising-influenced "slick aesthetic" art as protest propaganda, including the insertion of a fake front page into real editions of the New York Times and "Kissing Doesn't Kill" posters plastered on buses in New York City and San Francisco. Throughout, Lowery provides crucial context about the history of the AIDS epidemic and draws vivid sketches of key players in Gran Fury. The result is a captivating look at the power of art as a political tool. (Apr.)

Booklist Review

A collected oral history of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s is by no means a small endeavor. Yet Lowery, using countless sources, knits together just such a chronicle. The focus is primarily on the art that moved and sustained a silent population of men and women who suffered the scourge of an unnamed disease and rage over the glacial pace of government response once the HIV virus and AIDS were identified. In 1985, a small group of gay men, later dubbed Gran Fury, who professionally covered art, advertising, and graphic design, created a poster that displayed their pain and anger and plastered it across New York City. The ubiquitous poster, Silence = Death, along with a pride parade float made to represent a concentration camp with then President Reagan at the helm, inspired those living with AIDS to gather in ACT UP meetings and use their collective voice to demand action to stop the spread of AIDS. Lowery lovingly portrays the strength, effort, happy victories, and overwhelming sadness of these historic efforts. Art had a major role in the movement, and as this testimonial lays out, the people behind the art stand as pillars of beautiful humanity. This is a rich and necessary documentation.

Choice Review

During the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City, the artists' collective Gran Fury took shape and was formed in 1987. Powered by desperate anger and fueled by sorrow, Gran Fury emerged alongside ACT UP, the two groups working together to alert the world to the nature of the epidemic and to effect federal policy reform. Gran Fury created politically pointed, sexually brazen propaganda posters and wheat-pasted them around New York. The iconic Silence=Death poster, with its pink triangle echoing the Holocaust, was part of a cohesive messaging program that helped ACT UP grow funds for research and implement safer-sex initiatives. Based on interviews with Gran Fury group members and archival research, this book describes the passion of the collective and its process of creation, analyzing the artwork literally down to the fonts and margins. With time, Gran Fury's art became assimilated into the mainstream and was collected by museums, minus the rage and urgency. The eventual development of protease inhibitors made the virus controllable for many, but thousands had already died, and 25 percent of the people infected worldwide still have no medications. The efforts of Gran Fury, a forerunner of the Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and Me Too movements, should be more widely known and credited. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. --Sharon Leslie, Emory University

Library Journal Review

In the late 1980s, the AIDs epidemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and marginalized communities. One group, ACT-UP, was fighting misinformation about the disease and gave birth to the Gran Fury collective, which formed to fight against the systemic oppression that allowed AIDS to run rampant through the art community. Lowery looks into the art and activism that touched the lives of those who were affected by the pandemic. The author also investigates the ways in which those same methods have been used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vikas Adam narrates this look at the AIDS pandemic with tenderness. VERDICT Lowery's interviews with the members of the collective provides a sweeping look at the movements that changed the way in which people view government inaction, greed, and the stigma surrounding AIDS. Adam conveys the emotions of the collective members, adding a singular depth to the account. Lowery provides a well-organized list of sources for listeners who wish to learn more.--Elyssa Everling

Introduction: Another Kind of Propaganda	p. 1
Act I
Chapter 1 Out of Silence	p. 19
Chapter 2 Off the Wall	p. 49
Chapter 3 Collectivity	p. 81
Act II
Chapter 4 False Starts	p. 103
Chapter 5 Seeing Red	p. 135
Chapter 6 All the News Fit to Print	p. 163
Chapter 7 Power Tools	p. 193
Chapter 8 Censurato	p. 223
Chapter 9 Recognition	p. 247
Act III
Chapter 10 Fallout	p. 289
Chapter 11 The Elegy	p. 299
Chapter 12 Imperfect Endings	p. 341
Chapter 13 Afterglow	p. 363
Epilogue: An Actual End	p. 389
Acknowledgments	p. 393
Notes on Sources	p. 395
Index	p. 403

Quincy Thomas Crane Library

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