In Solidarity: Erasure Gallery / Curious Matter Marks Day With(out) Art & World AIDS Day

December 1 marks both Day With(out) Art and World AIDS Day, two observances that share a commitment to remembrance, visibility, and community.

In 1989, Visual AIDS conceived of Day Without Art. The organization called upon museums, galleries, and arts spaces to darken or close their doors, shroud or remove artworks, or acknowledge through public action the profound loss of artists and other cultural workers to AIDS. One year prior, World AIDS Day was established as the first global initiative to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

While founded separately, these initiatives have become closely linked, and together raise awareness, mourn our losses, and work to galvanize the global response to HIV/AIDS.

This past August during Jersey City’s Pride month, Curious Matter temporarily adopted the name Erasure Gallery, a project that resonates deeply with the intentions of Day With(out) Art. Erasure Gallery is our response to the systemic silencing of queer narratives—historical erasures that predate the AIDS pandemic and persist today. Through this project, we advocate for a fuller, more truthful accounting of queer lives in the visual arts and acknowledge those whose stories were obscured, erased, or never recorded.

On December 1, we will again drape our sign in lavender cloth as an act of remembrance and solidarity. We join Visual AIDS, our community, and cultural spaces everywhere in honoring those lost to HIV/AIDS and in supporting those working toward a future free from stigma and erasure.

Visual AIDS states its mission clearly:
“Visual AIDS utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.”

Our full Erasure Gallery Statement can be read here.
Learn more about this year’s Day With(out) Art programming from Visual AIDS here (or, go to visualaids.org)