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ARTIST STATEMENT

Two experiences deeply impacted my life when I lived in New York City: it was 9/11 and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I began my AIDS photography work in 1988 during the hysteria of the AIDS crisis. I can vividly remember sitting in my upper westside apartment one spring evening in 1981 and reading an article that appeared in a New York Native. Its bold headline was “RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS” –later coined "Gay Cancer.” From the 1980s to the 2000s, I lost many of my closest friends, whom I considered “family” and partners, to “gay cancer.” I assisted my business partner in maneuvering his health care in an era when the medical community was fearful, unsympathetic, and discriminatory toward anyone infected with HIV. I witnessed the first-hand struggles and stigma against the people I loved and towards the LGBTQ community. I became numb and afraid; the camera allowed me to express my sadness, grief, and anger at the bigotry and hate that HIV/AIDS caused.
 

When the media started to cover children infected with HIV/AIDS either through blood transfusions or being born with HIV/AIDS, I was reminded of my early 20s when I was an elementary school teacher. I had known Steven Lofton when I lived in Southern California and when a mutual friend said he had become a nurse and was caring for infants born with HIV/AIDS, I called him and asked if I could do a photo essay on him and his children. He agreed, and I flew to Miami to photograph him, his partner Roger, and their newly created family.
 

Over 30 years have passed, and the story of this American family’s odyssey is remarkable. I desire to publish An American Family: An AIDS Legacy (1988-2022), which will include material from Ginger’s Book: An AIDS Primer and up-to-date photographs.
 

I hope that the publication of the book will be a historical reminder. The photographs represent a legacy of how two gay men created a family during the AIDS epidemic. The photographs show their humanity for the children they raised.  Their love proved stronger and more enduring than the homophobic laws they challenged in the courts.

CV

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts, English, California State University Fullerton


Masters Degree in Teaching, University of California Irvine


Studies in Photography, International Center of Photography, New York, New York

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

An American Family: An AIDS Legacy

   - West Charleston Library
      (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District)
      Las Vegas, NV 
   - MBM Gallery, NY, NY
   - The State University of New York
      Stonybrook Art Gallery
      Stonybrook, NY
   - Manhattan Community College
      Chamber Street Gallery
      NY, NY
   - Alfred Lowenhertz Gallery
      Camera Club of New York
      NY, NY
   - World AIDS Day
      School of Education, Health, & Nursing
      New York University Commons Gallery
      NY, NY

Times Square: Icons and Ilusions

   - MBM Gallery, NY, NY
   - Stonewall Bar, NY, NY

Our Community is on Edge, Convent Avenue Baptist Church Gallery, Harlem, NY

An American Family: An AIDS Legacy

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Public Art, Intervention, & Performance in Lower Manhattan from 1978-1993, The Arts Center At Governors Island, NY, NY

Perspectives on HIV and Women, Visual Arts Gallery, University of Alabama

Connecting Lives: Documents from the AIDS Crisis, curated by Nan Goldin and Allen Frame
   - P.S. 122, NY, NY
   - Christ Episcopal Church Gallery, Greenwich, CT

 

Me, Myself and I, La Mama Galleria, NY.NY
 
Mirrored Differences: Hispanic Portraits, Merill-Lynch Photography Gallery, NY, NY

AIDS in Society, Art Squad Fine Art, Easton, PA

Out Art: From Desire: A Queer Diary, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

The Member's Exhibition at the Camera Club of London, London, United Kingdom
Home is Where the Heart Is, White Columns, NY, NY
The Electric Blanket (co-created by Allen Frame, Frank Franca, and Nan Goldin)
   - Cooper Union Square, NY, NY
   - War Memorial Park, Brooklyn, NY, NY
   - Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
   - Merlin Theatre, Budapest, Hungary
   - Toldi Cinema, Budapest, Hungary
   - Kunstverin Contmporary Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
   - International AIDS Conference, Tokyo, Japan
   - International AIDS Conference, Geneva, Switzerland
   - Gallery 76, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada

The Electric Blanket featured in (Counter) Public Art, Intervention & Performance in Lower Manhattan From 1978-1993. The Arts Center at Governors Island, NY, NY

Death, Dying and Mourning, Ceres Gallery, NY, NY


From Media to Metaphor: Art About AIDS
   - Grey Art Gallery, NY, NY
   - Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL.

The Gay and Lesbian Photo Annual (1991-2001), Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, NY, NY

The Center Photo Annual, Las Vegas, NV

SELECTED PUBLISHED

Ginger's Book: An AIDS Primer, Into the Light Press
The Passionate Camera: Bodies of Desire, Routledge Press, London
Dishonorable Passions, Viking Press, NY, NY
The Right to Be Parents, NYU Press, NY, NY

VIDEO

Dances for the Dying, Tele-Pictures, Warsaw, Poland


Under Lock and Key, produced by Beth B
  - International Center of Photography, NY, NY
  - Wexner Center for the Arts, University of Ohio, Columbus, Ohio
  - Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA

 For Tracy, Youtube Video

AWARDS/GRANTS

Merrill-Lynch Photography Grant


Women With AIDS Photography Award by World AIDS Conference, Geneva, Switzerland


The Center, Photography Award, Las Vegas, NV

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