Exhibit to heighten AIDS awareness

The Queens Museum of Art (QMA) Partnership Gallery is hosting an art exhibition in the hopes of heightening AIDS awareness in today’s community.
“I was so shocked to hear kids, 18-year-old kids, asking if AIDS really existed,” said Hector Canonge, director of the “Absence – FRAMING AIDS 2010” exhibit at the QMA.
After hearing this, Canonge made an open call looking for artists who could bring awareness to today’s youngsters that AIDS is real and there is no cure.
“I feel as if AIDS has been ignored, as if it is a sort of ‘not fashionable’ disease, put in the backburner and forgotten,” Canonge said.
“FRAMING AIDS 2010,” an annual observance of World AIDS Day through the arts, is a program of the Queens Media Arts Development (QMAD). The three-week multidisciplinary cultural event consists of the art exhibition, film screenings, panel talks, and online media projects.
The white themed exhibit “Absence” is running through December 19. The white theme was used to symbolize the absence of knowledge while maintaining the subtle presence that continues to haunt the population that is AIDS.
Juan Hinojosa, one of the many artists who contributed to the exhibit with a textural installation that spread from the ground to the ceiling, mentioned how challenging it was to use only white in his usually colorful pieces.
“I had to strip the colors from it all, and stay with clear and white colors,” said Hinojosa, who graduated with a BFA from Parsons School of Design. “It was hard. I usually use a lot of color in my work.”
Other artists like Risa Puno, Soo Im Lee, Ryan Roa and Antonio Ortuño participated in the exhibit to have an open dialogue about what AIDS continues to do to people and families around the world.
“It’s like people think AIDS only affects Africa,” said Risa Puno, who’s installation “See Saw” was her way of reflecting the loss of innocence when learning that you’re terminally ill. “They forget that we still have cases here, and around the world, AIDS does not only belong to Africa.”
For more information, visit www.qmad.org/framingaids.