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It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
Top of the pile
80
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
98/100Critics
61/100Scholars
Author:
Jack Lowery
Publisher:
Bold Type Books
Date:
April 5, 2022
In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP, an art collective that called itself Gran Fury formed to campaign against corporate greed, government inaction, stigma, and public indifference to the epidemic. Jack Lowery examines Gran Fury's art and activism from iconic images like the "Kissing Doesn't Kill" poster to the act of dropping piles of fake bills onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
What The Reviewers Say
His book focuses on the Gran Fury art collective.
Vivid, frank portraits.
Lowery lovingly portrays the strength, effort, happy victories, and overwhelming sadness of these historic efforts. Art had a major role in the movement, and as this testimonial lays out, the people behind the art stand as pillars of beautiful humanity. This is a rich and necessary documentation..
A fascinating study.
