Author: John Navarria

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AIDS Awareness

John Navarria

AIDS Awareness is an event that raises awareness towards AIDS/HIV every year on April 10th. My goal is to spread more awareness by emphasizing projects made by thousands of people ranging from the AIDS memorial quilt, paintings, to online galleries dedicated to archiving artwork.

AIDS created a lot of stigma and discrimination towards LGBTQ people. Some believed that only certain individuals could get HIV and those who got it deserved it for being gay. These rumors kicked off in San Francisco during the 1980s. The first articles about the virus published by the CDC talked about how 5 previously healthy, young gay men had got it and unfortunately lost their lives to it. As a result of the article US gay rights movements were severely frowned upon. People began to become less comfortable around gay men specifically. Even the government at the time was devoted to funding resources for gay movements. With a new virus and increased amounts of tension between the LGBTQ community, something had to be done.

In this section, I’m going to be talking about the AIDS Memorial Quilt. We learned briefly about this topic in class but there is still a lot more to know. The project was started by Cleve Jones, a social activist, who dedicates his time to spreading positivity through artwork. Jones was born in West Lafayette, Indiana on October 11th, 1954. Jones first got into social rights movements when he was “adopted” by gay rights leader Harvey Milk. Jones had worked for Harvey Milk as an intern until he was assassinated in 1978. It was not until 1983 that Jones founded the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The idea of the quilt came to him during the candlelight march in remembrance of Harvey Milk and former Mayor George Moscone. At the march, people were writing names of those they lost to AIDS/HIV on signs. These signs were attached to the San Francisco Federal Building. Jones used what he saw that day as an inspiration.

Cleve Jones

The AIDS Memorial Quilt made its first appearance at the national mall in Washington DC on October 11th, 1987, at the same time as the National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights. At the time, the quilt had over 1900 panels and was the size of a football field! The first showing of the quilt lead to every name being read at all the future displays. Over 500,000 people had visited the quilt during its first showing. The textile art was so popular that the quilt toured over 20 cities. Over 9,000 volunteers helped the quilt be displayed across the country. Every city that was toured just made the quilt bigger and bigger. Towards the end of the first tour, the quilt was just over 6,000 separate panels. In November 1989 the quilt made its last stop at the National AIDS Memorial where it still resides In San Francisco. The project itself was made to stop the hate and social misconduct towards people affected by the virus. The quilt inspired so many more projects on over 5 different continents.  As of recently a new project called “Call My Name” was started to remember black lives lost to AIDS. This project as well as the AIDS Memorial quilt can now be toured online in its website exhibit!

AIDS Memorial Quilt At The National Mall

Another artist I will be talking about is Frank C. Moore. A lot of Moore’s artworks were focused on civil rights and environmental problems. What you may not know is that Moore himself was diagnosed with HIV in 1985. Following his diagnosis, Moore began creating artwork pursuing AIDS awareness and homosexuality. Later in 1988, Moore became a founding member of the program called “Visual AIDS” a project that utilizes art to fight against AIDS by preserving art and spreading awareness. The program continues to raise awareness to date. Shown below are some of Moore’s art as well as art from the Visual AIDS web gallery.

Although AIDS Awareness has influenced millions of people to actively work together and spread awareness through paintings, textile artwork, and online art galleries, we still do not have a proper vaccine for the virus. A ton of my intention and motivation to write about this issue came from the AIDS memorial quilt. This shows how much artwork can bring social issues to light. I have faith that in the upcoming years with the increasing numbers of the LGBTQ community that we can finally put a stop to the discrimination and hate caused by the virus.


Sources:

https://www.clevejones.com/ – Founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history – History of the quilt.

https://www.aidsmemorial.org/virtual-quilt/virtual-quilt-black-history – Call My Name Movement.

https://visualaids.org/

https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2021/more-life/frank-moore

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Art/Social Change Topic

For this assignment, searching for an artist to write about and research sounded very difficult for me. One assignment that really got my interest was “textile arts and social change”. I was hooked. After my interest in learning about the AIDS Memorial quilt it was clear that this is what I had to write about.

The glory of the story is that there is not just one artist. There are thousands. Another beauty of this movement is that the artwork itself is too big to be in one place. I am truly excited to dedicate myself to exploring more about the quilt and cannot wait to start writing about it!

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The Biggest Textile Art Project!

Textile quilts and social change do not sound like two things that go together. After watching, reading, and researching many massive projects like the AIDS Memorial quilt you can see how much change these quilts can bring. In my opinion, the form of art and messages the quilts give off is just indescribable.

This week I decided to dig deeper and research more into the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Did you know that over 20 countries decided to join in on the projects! Currently, the quilt resides in the National AIDS Memorial just inside of San Francisco. Since it was first displayed on October 11, 1987, the quilt now includes more than 50,000 panels honoring practically 100,000 people. Since the quilt is now so large it cannot be displayed in one place. As of today, you can visit the project anytime since it is now displayed online.

Although there are many other projects like the AIDS Memorial, it would not be a bad idea to spread more important messages and opinions through textile art. If you’re interested in exploring the AIDS Memorial Quilt, I have put the link and all my sources below!

Sources:

– https://www.history.com/news/aids-memorial-quilt
– https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history
– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470617/

Visit the AIDS Memorial online!
https://www.aidsmemorial.org/interactive-aids-quilt

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More On The Confederate Statues

Some people may say that the confederate statutes represent a point in American history that is obviously true. These statues all over the south including Louisiana, Virginia, and North Carolina were set up by white southerners who fought against black citizens getting rights.

Recently we have seen riots, protests, and people fighting against the police after the horrible death of George Floyd in 2020. On the news, you would see statues being vandalized, and some recently removed which at the time I had really no idea why. After reading the articles and doing some googling it’s clear that the statues represent confederacy and people who fought against black rights.

The removal of these statues in my opinion is a great place to start. People argue that the statues represent fallen soldiers when they were really made to represent the idea of white supremacy. With the removal of the Stonewall Jackson statue in Virginia, I am optimistic that we can expect a future of equality.

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Take A Long Walk Off A Short Pier — John

Eight little words that could mean so much. How would you go on to decipher them? “Take a long walk off a short pier” is something my grandfather used to say all the time. I decided to use this phrase due to the short amount of time I got to spend with him.

My grandfather was born in 1940 also known as “the silent generation”. A time when America was in an ongoing war and suffering from the economic depression. In those times is when I believe most of these “vulgar” sounding phrases were used popularly. My grandfather served in the navy for some time and some similar phrases would just become acquainted with him. This is how it was for most people during the 1940s-1960s. That is why most of the phrases and terms used were more hostile. With this said just because they sound hostile does not mean at all that they are.

So, what does the phrase mean? Did my grandfather really want my mother to jump off a pier and drown? Obviously not. The phrase is a tongue-in-cheek way of telling someone to “scram” or “get lost”. Most of the time these would be used if you were annoying someone or if someone just had enough of you. Since then, the phrase has continued to be passed down from my grandfather to my mother and to me. Some similar phrases to compare are “get lost’ or “jump in a lake”. Although they are harmless phrases most people these days will take them to be extremely hostile and unnecessary.

Nowadays most people who hear these idioms will absolutely think they are unrefined. With times changing rapidly since the 1940s and as people pass, generations are lost. Most of these phrases will die out. With the new generations and (in my opinion) more “sensitive” people you really must watch what you say, post, or do. Phrases like these are probably best to not be used on kids these days because you never know what could happen. Therefore, saying it to your kids if they get that it’s just a joke could still be bad because other people who hear that could take it out of hand.

In conclusion, the reason I decided to use this phrase is because growing up with my grandfather and mother I would be used to constantly hearing it and most of the time it would be directed at me. I cannot even tell you when the last time I heard someone say it was. I wonder what would happen if we took a poll to see how many people are familiar with the phrase.