Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness

International Poster Gallery owner Jim Lapides has amassed one of the largest collections of AIDS posters in the world -- more than 3,000 designs from nearly 100 countries.  The collection is currently featured in Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985-2010, a first-of-its-kind exhibition of arresting and fearless international public health announcement posters.

This exhibition presents a comprehensive overview of the diverse visual strategies employed to educate the public on the AIDS epidemic. The messages in Graphic Intervention champion issues such as disease research and eradication, world health, international relations, sexual education, and discrimination.

"Across the globe, the poster has been on the front line in the battle against AIDS," states gallery owner Jim Lapides. "In the age of TV, radio and video, the struggle surprisingly produced one of the largest poster campaigns ever - if not the largest."  

With over 3,000 posters to choose from, curators narrowed down the wealth of visual depictions to 153 examples from 44 countries. From Papua New Guinea to Denmark, Venezuela to Morocco, these posters demonstrate the remarkable diversity of visual solutions used to address a public health crisis.

A striking example is the American poster I have AIDS, Please Hug Me, evocative of a Dick and Jane drawing, which targeted the ignorance  and fear aroused in 1985 when Ryan White, a hemophiliac with AIDS, was turned away from school. Another is the 1994 Australian design Condoman, directed at a young Aboriginal audience and intended to lessen embarrassment about condom use.

Graphic Intervention was curated by Elizabeth Resnick, Professor and Chair of Graphic Design at MassArt, and Javier Cortez, Partner and Creative Director at Korn Design, Boston. Resnick previously co-curated the exhibition The Graphic Imperative: International Posters for Peace, Social Justice & The Environment 1965-2005, which traveled extensively throughout the US and abroad from 2005-2010.

For more information, see www.graphicintervention.org. A 96-page full color catalog is available for sale at International Poster Gallery.

MassArt Exhibit Events:

Opening Reception

Thursday, October 7, 6:00-8:00 PM

The Stephen D. Paine Gallery located in South Hall

Visualizing Solutions: Designers and the HIV/AIDS Crisis

Thursday, November 4, 6:30 PM

Tower Auditorium

Panel discussion with Chaz Maviyane-Davies, Lanny Sommese, Joe Scorsone, Alice Drueding 

The exhibition is sponsored by International Poster Gallery, Korn Design, Sappi Paper, pixelslam, AIGA Boston. 

Exhibition Travel Schedule 2010 - 2012

1. Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Boston, MA | September 13–December 4, 2010

2. Art Center College of Design

Pasadena, CA | February 25–April 24, 2011

3. Art Directors Club

New York, NY | June 7–July 29, 2011

4. York College of Pennsylvania

York, PA | August 25–September 22, 2011

5. Museum of Design Atlanta, MODA

Atlanta, GA | October 1–January 1, 2012

6. Edinboro University Pennsylvania

Edinboro, PA | February 1–22, 2012

7. College of Creative Studies

Detroit, MI | March 2012

8. The Wolfsonian

Miami Beach, FL | May 11–September 9, 2012

9. Central Michigan University

Mt. Pleasant, MI | October 1–November 30, 2012

10. International Poster Biennale of Mexico (selections)

Querétaro, Mexico | November 2012

11. Big Screen Plaza at Eventi Hotel (slideshow)

New York, NY | World Aids Day, December 1, 2012

12. Johnson & Johnson Headquarters (selections)

New Brunswick, NJ | December 2012