Rosalind Fox Solomon Portraits in the Time of AIDS, 1988

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Preston Young
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1 Rosalind Fox Solomon Portraits in the Time of AIDS, 1988 PARIS PHOTO Grand Palais, Paris / November 12-15, West 24th Street / New York, NY / /

BRUCE SILVERSTEIN AT PARIS PHOTO Grand Palais, Paris Stand D30 / PRISM Sector: SH9 November 12-15, 2015 Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present Rosalind Fox Solomon s historic series,

2 BRUCE SILVERSTEIN AT PARIS PHOTO Grand Palais, Paris Stand D30 / PRISM Sector: SH9 November 12-15, 2015 Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present Rosalind Fox Solomon s historic series, Portraits in the Time of AIDs, 1988, in the new PRISM Sector in the Salon d Honneur of the Grand Palais. This will be the first time the series has been shown in Europe. When it was first exhibited at New York University s Grey Art Gallery at the height of the AIDS epidemic, this historic show was comprised of seventy-five oversized portraits tacked to the wall at or above the viewer s height some rather shocking and unabashed depictions of the ravaging symptoms of this illness. The exhibition prompted much debate regarding the polemical nature of depicting persons with AIDS as visibly ill, physically weakened, or doomed, at a time when the general public and media were terrified, grappling with the nature of the illness and its effect on American society. Additionally, locating the work within the context of fine art as opposed to the documentary, the project incurred further criticism, namely for its prioritizing the artist s creative and aesthetic interests over those of her sitters. Yet, it is important to note, all of those photographed gave their permission to be a part of Solomon s project, trusting in art s communicative power.

3 Washington D.C., /4 x 39 3/4 in. (108.6 x 101 cm)

4 New York, /2 x 39 3/4 in. (108 x 101 cm)

5 New York, /2 x 40 in. (108 x cm)

6 New York, /4 x 40 1/4 in. (108.6 x cm)

7 New York, /2 x 39 3/4 in. (108 x 101 cm)

8 New York, /8 x 40 1/8 in. (107 x cm)

9 New York, /2 x 40 in. (108 x cm)

10 New York, /2 x 39 3/4 in. (108 x 101 cm)

11 Washington D.C., 1988 Gelatin silver print, printed c /2 x 40 in. (108 x cm)

12 Washington D.C., /4 x 40 in. (107.3 x cm)

13 Washington D.C., /8 x 40 1/8 in. (107 x cm)

14 New York, /4 x 39 1/4 in. (107.3 x 99.7 cm)

15 New York, /8 x 40 1/8 in. (107 x cm)

16 Washington D.C., /8 x 40 1/8 in. (107 x cm)

17 25 Years Later Rosalind Fox Solomon reflects on the process of making Portraits in the Time of AIDS More than a generation has passed since the exhibition, Portraits in the Time of AIDS. I am pondering what I did those many years ago and what it meant then and now. My son had, an incurable, hereditary kidney disease. My husband suffered from the same illness. I was motivated to interact with people dealing with difficulties in life that they could not control. When I became aware of the AIDS epidemic in 1987, I decided to meet and photograph people with AIDS. I read an article in the New York Times quoting a suggestion that PWA s should be isolated, away from others, just as people with Hansen s Disease (leprosy) had been for generations. To understand what it could mean to be isolated in that way, I visited Agua de Dios in Colombia, a leper colony which, fortunately, has since been closed. I am interested in breaking down stereotypes. Though I am always aware of the social and political context in which I am working, my pictures raise issues. They do not give answers. Wherever I am, I connect on a gut level. I never gloss over the raw realities of life. I do not tell people what to believe, but cause them to confront their assumptions. I take them to the places where I have found connection with strangers and their lives. My convictions and confusions intermingle as I meet indivduals living with emotional and physical stress. I think that viewers reminded of their own problems, find this disturbing. They face their own mortality. Photographing people with AIDS and those in their lives was a wrenching experience. For a year of my life I met individuals facing the affliction. My life was all about AIDS. It was total immersion. When the show opened, for the most part it was ignored or got negative reviews. I was accused of exploitation. Most of the people in the 70 photographs exhibited, came to the opening of the exhibit and liked it. They knew that they were being memorialized. After that year, I worked on other projects and tried to put the pain that I felt behind me. As I found ways to meet and photograph individuals with AIDS, I could talk of nothing else. Friends asked how I could expose myself to the disease and told me that I might catch it. That is how little was known about the condition. In making portraits of the afflicted, I wanted to portray them alone as well as with their families and lovers. At the time, they were mostly gay men, men who could be your son or your next-door-neighbor, or your best friend. Suddenly, rather than being treated with kindness, many were demonized not only by society, but by loved ones There were parents who disowned their sons; lovers who walked out; and a society that was shunning them. My new friends with AIDS, had shared their most intimate thoughts and feelings with me. That year of immersion in their illness, death and dying and gave me nightmares as I processed my experiences and my pictures. The pictures traveled briefly. Then they were put to rest in crates for 25 years. - Rosalind Fox Solomon, New York, 2013

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