Among Us: Four Decades of Art & AIDS in Philadelphia presents works related to HIV and AIDS by 35 artists with connections to Philadelphia, past and present.

The first public report of what would come to be known as AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was published in the media in May 1981 and the first case in Philadelphia was identified later that fall. In the months and years that followed the world changed forever for those who were most susceptible to the disease, especially people of color, trans women, gay and bisexual men, sex workers, and people who inject drugs. Over 700,000 Americans have died of AIDS since 1981 and today there are over 18,000 people in Philadelphia living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The role of art in raising awareness, combating stigma, protesting inaction or hateful rhetoric, and memorializing those lost to the disease cannot be understated. For four decades, the LGBTQ+ and the HIV/AIDS communities have found expression and solace in art. This exhibition brings together a wide range of those expressions manifested in art by those among us who died of complications relating to AIDS; by those among us living with HIV; by those among us who have lost friends, lovers, parents, elders, and role models.

In a nod to a groundbreaking exhibition called Images & Words: Artists Respond to AIDS, held in New York and Philadelphia in 1990, we present alongside each artwork a quote to provide a bit of background, context or explanation. In most cases these come from the artists themselves, but we also include the words of others who can help add meaning to the works, which are themselves beautiful, haunting, excruciating, and extraordinarily powerful.

Janus Ourma & John Anderies, curators