Tag Archives: AIDS

Vampires and blood trafficking: The International Red Cross campaign against third-world plasma collection in the 1970s

January 7, 2020

William Schneider Indianapolis, Indiana, United States   1986 photo of Hantchef and successors as head of IFRC Blood program (Cropped) left to right: Evelyn von Steffens (technical adviser), Juhani Leikola (Hantchef’s successor), Polly Dussan (secretary to Leikola), Tony Britten (Leikola’s successor) and Zarco Hantchef. Source: Juhani Leikola One of the cornerstones of the WHO Blood […]

Preparing for a zombie apocalypse

April 22, 2019

Larry Kerr Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States   Pieter Bruegel the Elder created this apocalyptic view of a world in 1562 unprepared to handle a pandemic. The painting has been in Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1827. What can we learn from a Zombie Apocalypse? The first thing to learn? It could happen. Anyone who […]

TB-AIDS diary

February 6, 2019

Linda Troeller New York, New York, United States   The TB-AIDS Diary was created in 1987 to address issues of stigma, comparing the response to patients with tuberculosis in the 1930s with the reaction to patients with AIDS in the 1980s. Tuberculosis was used as a metaphor for the stigma surrounding contagious diseases and treated […]

Ending one’s life on the stage

March 4, 2017

Angela Belli New York City, New York, United States   Writers and physicians often share the same sensibilities and skills required to describe the disease process and its wider effects. But while the literary artist, unlike the physician, relies on his imagination to realize the experience of his fictional characters, he can also engage the […]

Kindred paradigms: community arts and health advocacy in HIV/AIDS activism

January 24, 2017

Niyi Awofeso Anu Rammohan Australia, Perth   Community arts involve an understanding of communities and how art can function as an agent of social change. Community artists employ a broad range of genres and disciplines to reach a wide audience. Defined broadly as the work of communities of people committed to improving their individual and […]

River, 2005 – Installation by Gerda Meyer Bernstein

January 22, 2017

Gerda Meyer Bernstein   Artist Statement River is a 32 ft. x 20 in. x 20 in. installation. It is made up of a wooden box with 10,000 vials filled with a red substance simulating blood. The vials overflow at one end, spilling all over the floor like the uncontrollability of the AIDS epidemic. River expresses […]