AIDS activism

The start of the AIDS crisis is often identified as June 1981, when the United States’ Centers for Disease Control first reported on cases of the disease in gay men. In the subsequent decades, people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as their family, friends, partners, and caretakers, have led actions to honor people impacted by the disease, condemn governmental neglect of the ongoing epidemic, and resist widespread discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. Motivated by this political and public-health crisis, and the profound loss and suffering it has caused, a wide range of artists, working both collectively and individually, have used their artwork to bring attention to and demand support for people living with HIV/AIDS.