Photo: Kim Tunnicliffe (WBZ NewsRadio)
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — SPOKE, a nonprofit art group in Boston, is commemorating World AIDS Day with a 24-hour exhibit at the Boston Center for the Arts' Cyclorama in the South End.
World AIDS Day, which happens every December 1, was founded in 1988 as a dedicated day to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and remember those who have died of AIDS-related illnesses.
SPOKE's event, titled "Day Without Art," is a vigil featuring music, dance, poetry, and art, including 25 sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt hanging on the wall.
"It’s an invitation for us all to connect to the story," SPOKE Artistic Director Michael Dowling told WBZ NewsRadio. "The story of being, the story of being with each other. In some ways, the numbers of AIDS cases, although it was enormous, it's dwarfed by the number of COVID cases. It’s more about who am I to this person, who is this person to me?"
The exhibit also features 400 hand-drawn pictures of AIDS victims drawn on their own obituaries and hung from the ceiling.
"We print them on burnt paper and draw the person on top of their obituary, as a meditation," Dowling said.
Among those in attendance Thursday were Phillip, whose ex-partner Tom Sartini has a patch on the AIDS quilt after dying at the age of 29.
"With all the craziness that’s going on today, it’s nice to kinda come here and just be quiet," Phillip told WBZ. "This is kinda like what’s important, what matters."
Phillip continued, "I always said to [Tom], my biggest fear is that I’m gonna forget you. But I don’t, so I’m very lucky. The quilt is such a beautiful kind of monument."
WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports.
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