Borders/Crossings Curated by Liz Barr

Mark Carter, Celebrating the Dead, 1999, leather, paper, tempera & wood, 12" x 12". Courtesy of the Estate of Mark Carter

Every month, Visual AIDS invites guest curators, drawn from both the arts and AIDS communities, to select several works from the Frank Moore Archive Project. This month, Liz Barr curated Borders/Crossings, featuring the artwork of Archive Members; Brian Buczak, Mark Carter, Sarawut Chutiwongpeti, Lucretia Crichlow, William Cullum, William Donovan, Rebecca Guberman, Nancer LeMoins, Elliot Linwood, Peter Madero III, Preston McGovern, Luna Luis Ortiz, Hermes Payrhuber, Eric Rhein, , and Steed Taylor.

Curator's Statement: 
 My first trip to Visual AIDS was really intense. I knew that HIV and AIDS had taken (and are still taking) a huge toll on the art world, but as I sat at a light table, flipping through binder after binder after binder of slides, the volume of work overwhelmed me and hit me hard.  Because I was born in the early 1980s, ACT UP and others had already built the foundation of AIDS activism in the US by the time I arrived on the scene. Many of the pieces I looked at in the Archive reflect the politics of early days of AIDS activism: fights against fear and moral panic, resistance to the “blaming” of people with HIV, and unwillingness to abandon victories from the lesbian and gay rights movements. The politics of AIDS activism are a refusal to lose personhood and dignity in the face of the AIDS crisis.  (read more)

About the Curator:
Liz Barr recently completed a Master’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies from Towson University. She participates in many forms of AIDS activism in Baltimore, including organized World AIDS Day events, town halls, community forums, teach-ins, and screenprinting workshops. She is dedicated to treatment research and activism and sits on many community and scientific subcommittees of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group. She is also a member of Community Partners and the Women’s HIV Research Collaborative. Liz is interested in bridging the gap between science, art, and culture.  Liz lives in Baltimore with her dog and two cats, and bakes gourmet vegan cupcakes.