Screening: “Everyone I Know Is Sick”

60 min. loop

Experience six short videos the arts organization Visual AIDS commissioned for Day With(out) Art 2023, a global day of mourning and action founded in response to the AIDS crisis and its impact on artistic communities. The videos portray experiences spanning from HIV to aging, inviting viewers to understand disability and illness as common experiences rather than exceptions to the norm.

The program features newly commissioned work by Dorothy Cheung (Hong Kong), Hiura Fernandes & Lili Nascimento (Brazil), Beau Gomez (Canada/Philippines), Dolissa Medina & Ananias P. Soria (USA), Vasilios Papapitsios (USA), and Kurt Weston (USA). The set of six videos has a run time of 60 minutes and plays on a loop in Lubar Auditorium.

This program is part of the Museum’s observance of World AIDS Day, the internationally recognized day dedicated to raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, remembering those who have died, and celebrating successes around prevention and treatment, and is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Darrel Ellis: Regeneration, honoring the artist, who passed away from AIDS-related causes.

This drop-in experience is included with Museum admission and is free for Members. Come prepared for your visit by reserving tickets at the door or online.

Video Synopses

Dorothy Cheung, Heart Murmur
Heart Murmur invites people living with HIV in Hong Kong to reflect on their experience of the COVID pandemic, juxtaposing their voices with the urban landscape.

Hiura Fernandes and Lili Nascimento, Aquela criança com AID$ (That Child with AID$)
That Child with AID$ tells the story of Brazilian advocate and artist Lili Nascimento, who was born with HIV in 1990. Lili has worked to expand narratives about living with HIV beyond the limited images and ideologies that permeate the AIDS industry.

Beau Gomez, This Bed I Made
This Bed I Made presents the bed as a place of solace and agency beyond just a site of illness or isolation. Through the shared stories of individuals living with HIV in the Philippines, the video explores modes of care, restoration, and abundance in the midst of pandemic pervasion.

Dolissa Medina and Ananias P. Soria, Viejito/Enfermito/Grito (Old Man/Sick Man/Shout)
Ananias, a San Francisco Bay Area artist and immigrant, performs the folkloric Danza de los Viejitos (the Dance of the Old Men). Originally from Michoacán, Mexico, where the dance originates, Ananias interprets its movements through the lens of his spirituality, his long-term HIV-related disabilities, and his search for a place in the world.

Vasilios Papapitsios, PARAPRONOIA
Papapitsios describes PARAPRONOIA as a “meditation on how we can(not) heal in the environments that make us sick, from the perspective of an infected neurodivergent faggot.” Combining auto-fiction with magical realism, Papapitsios humorously reimagines narratives around mental health and chronic illness.

Kurt Weston, Losing the Light
Losing the Light reflects the artist’s bitter battle to stay in this world as a long-term survivor of AIDS who has lost his vision to CMV retinitis. An experimental self-portrait, the video evokes the dissolution and fragmentation of the artist’s body, representing the impact of blindness, long-term HIV infection, and the cumulative effects of decades of antiretroviral medication.

About Visual AIDS

Visual AIDS is a New York-based non-profit that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.

Community Sponsor:

Image: Hiura Fernandes and Lili Nascimento, Aquela criança com AID$ (That Child with AID$) (detail), 2023. Commissioned by Visual AIDS for Everyone I Know Is Sick