Media: FOUL! Visual AIDS strikes out in new broadside
This post was submitted by Ted Kerr.
Ted Kerr is a writer, artist and activist with a focus on HIV / AIDS, queerness and expression. He was HIV Edmonton’s first Artist in Residence and currently contributes to Queermonton – a column about queer life in Edmonton for VUE Weekly. He was a founding member of Exposure: Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival.
Every year New York based Visual AIDS, VA, “the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness through producing and presenting visual art projects,” unveils two new broadside projects created with different visual artists to promote “harm reduction, HIV prevention and AIDS awareness” to diverse audiences. According to visualaids.org, “Broadsides are a creative response to the lack of provocative and frank HIV-prevention messages in our city and nationally.”
Of the broadsides being released this year is a trading card project called PLAY SMART with photographers Aaron Cobbett, inkedKenny, Greg Mitchell, and Slava Mogutin in consultation with Dr. Demetre Daskalakis at the NYC based The Men’s Sexual Health Project, M*SHP.
Each photographer created a set of trading cards, one side featuring a photo of a man in sports drag and the other communicating ‘stats’. Rather than ‘player’ information, the PLAY SMART trading cards feature the ‘new rules’ of what Daskalakis calls “Smart Sex.” The rules include using a condom, getting tested, talking about HIV / sex with friends, partners and doctors, and getting information on post-exposure prophylaxis.
Visual AIDS supporters like myself and other community members are calling time out on PLAY SMART for its language and imagery.
According to Amy Sadao, Executive Director of Visual AIDS, some early push back on the broadsides came from a NYC POZ activist who asked after reading the name of the trading cards, “What? Am I having dumb sex? Are you calling me dumb?”
As Sadao and Santos explain the PLAY SMART theme and name emerged after the trading card size and sports motif were decided upon. Designed specifically to be given out at clinics Daskalakis runs within NYC sex clubs, it was thought that the trading card size, and sex-positive sport motif would ensure people picked up and retained the cards as well as absorbed the information provided.
As Santos recalls, “Using the word “smart” instead of “safe” was a way of refreshing the concept. People seem to tune out the words “safer sex”… but “smart” was a different way of thinking how to play, like using the proper equipment or talking to your teammate so you know what’s going on ‘on the field’.” Sadao says she hears the critique and, as with everything pertaining to the campaign, it is under consideration as VA thinks of how to roll out of the second phase of the trading cards.
For me the issue with the PLAY SMART trading cards is around how the narrow focus of whom is being ‘traded’ in the cards. All feature fit, able-bodied, predominantly white, men.
As those involved in gay men’s health know being able to navigate condom use, talk about HIV / AIDS with friends, family, doctors, and accessing Post-exposure prophylaxis is often a point of privilege based on race, class, ‘attractiveness / desirability’ and other factors.
Diversity is not represented in the cards. If anything PLAY SMART works against social factors we know to be true;
- HIV rates among visual minority men who have sex with men is disproportionately higher than their white counterparts.
- Racism, class-ism, size-ism, able-ism all factor into sexual negotiation dynamics.
So while the information PLAY SMART wants to get out is very helpful, the images of the card may prevent someone from thinking that the cards are for them, or worse may work to reinforce poor self esteem, heighten senses of not belonging and ensure that the information is never obtained or retained by the intended audience.
PLAY SMART, aside from being culturally and otherwise insensitive also plays into the tyranny of fit white males as the dominate ideal of who is gay, who gets to have gay sex and who can / should be desired and protected.
The supremacy of white fit bodies is such that it rules out other conversations that could come from PLAY SMART. We can’t talk about condom use if we don’t talk about social isolation. We can’t discuss the need for frank discussion of sexuality unless the cultural differences around sexuality are on the table.
Of course PLAY SMART is not all bad. One could argue that in a way PLAY SMART is advocating for a holistic approach to HIV / STI prevention. By using a sports theme the broadsides can be understood as suggesting ‘smart sex’ is a lifestyle choice- taking care of your body is not just about getting fit but also condom use, getting tested etc.
In the end PLAY SMART falls short. It is just sexy. It is just eye catching. Celebrating the male form and being sex positive is much need in gay men’s health work but what is not needed are messages – intended or not – that silence, disappear and under mind bodies already repressed and undervalued in society (often further within gay communities).
Visual AIDS is an amazing, thoughtful, proactive organization that has lead the way in how art can galvanize energy and ideas around HIV / AIDS. PLAY SMART, in my mind does not represent the best of what VA can do – but along the way does raise valuable questions about limits and expectations of campaigns. If I can venture a guess I would say that Visual AIDS has taken a hit on this one, will go back to the locker room to regroup and will come out swinging better than ever next time.
Check out the awesomeness of Visual AIDS past broadsides: http://www.thebody.com/visualaids/current/broadsides.html
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I like the transition to PLAYSMART, as play safe does tend to get lost as background noise in discussions on HIV/AIDS. While I do see how some may react negatively to the implication they are being called dumb, at least an impassioned reaction opens a dialogue. If the focus on sports is part of the SMART aspect, then to overcome some of the limitations the campaign has (with regards to size, age, ability, etc.), I suggest that there are other things people can do to be SMART. In the strategizing for how to PLAY SMART, why not have images of guys playing chess, poker, RISK, games that require planning and thought. This would allow for a group of VA that do not focus on hot toned men, while still containing the core message of playing smart. GET YOUR GAME ON can be expanded to PLAN AHEAD, PLAN YOUR MOVE, etc.
Ted, I’m so affected by “the tyranny of fit white males” that my eyes actually glossed over the images (of men looking nothing like me) as just more visual representations of the gay culture I’m supposed to feel a part of and went directly to the message.
As you might’ve heard me rant before, I’m over safe sex (or smart sex or whatever the hell we’re calling it this week) messages being dominated by condoms. Statistically, men who have sex with men use—and don’t use—condoms as much as everyone else. I’m still waiting for the public health conversation to acknowledge the fit white elephant in the room and address condom alternatives.
I’m reminded of the maxim “Intelligent people talk about ideas; educated people talk about things; uneducated people talk about people.” I’ve heard a lot of uneducated people talk about who to avoid sex with due to the subject of gossip’s alleged serostatus. I’ve heard most educated people talk about condoms and other physical things. I’ve heard very few intelligent folks discuss the ideas behind the safer sex choices folks make that don’t involve condoms.
Getting back to your points, I agree with most everything you had to say in regards to the systemic oppression offered by blindingly bright visions of our community. Yet, like “condom only” safe/smart sex messages, these visions are being taken for granted by a lot of uneducated people (and more than a few intelligent folks, too).
I’ve railed against “the tyranny” so many times that my visual sensitivity numbs when I’m beat over the eyes with it again (and again, ad nauseam), my rage becoming whitewashed, re-educated.
Lark,
Hi and we were/are excited that M*SHP works within sex clubs and parties and in doing so considers its overall message is to support intentionality about your health and your choices. Other of our editions promote condom use. Which is something that we believe is still important and it is also something we want to go beyond. I feel your frustration but could you be projecting the condom use beatdown on the trading cards?
Condom use is one of four points made on the trading cards. Which are trading card size.
The third point is “Talk”. Maybe about sex, and health, and love…
Gay City Health Project’s work looks great. I’m glad to know about it and look forward to advancing messages that matter. We do this specifically with visual art. Let’s talk offline.
Amy Sadao
Executive Director, Visual AIDS
PS: Ted, you’ve drawn me into blog commenting! xo
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Amy,
Condom use is the first point made on the cards. I understand the limitations of your medium, both in terms of size and ability to visually portray complex concepts simply (an oxymoron if there ever was one). Yet, regardless of whether condom use is put first or last (or at all) on the cards, the images distributed thus far do not reflect the diversity of NYC’s gay community.
Furthermore, I daresay that the majority of the folks coming into contact with the cards at the venues you mentioned have already been told to “use condoms & lube”, “get tested often”, and “talk…about HIV & sex” numerous times, along with admonitions to wear helmets/seatbelts, brush/floss twice daily, say “please/thank you” etc. (Raising awareness of PEP doesn’t hurt, yet access is an issue for some.)
If you “want to go beyond” condom messages that have been heard—and ignored—then do so as your funding allows. (I am aware that the source of funding can decide the content of the message.) I’m comfortable asserting that not only have most of the folks that will see these cards heard the messages already, but also are quite adept at “suiting up” and (thinking they) “know [their] stats”. I’m sure you’ve considered the benefit of expanding on the implicit messages in “rally[ing] the team”. I’m not sure why it wasn’t done.
The problem is not folks “playing dumb”; the problem is not addressing *why* folks are REPEATEDLY giving the referee the finger. It’s about time our public health messages acknowledge that folks are playing by their own house rules and are sick—literally!—of well-intentioned poindexters whining about playing by the book.
Think of an inner-city football coach with a shoestring budget and no protective gear for their teen athletes. The kids are *going* to play football—with or without helmets—and if that coach doesn’t adapt the rules to fit the reality of the situation, they’re going to have a lot of kids in the hospital. For the coach to instead endlessly bemoan the kids playing football, “Why, oh WHY do they continue to play football without helmets? Don’t they know they’ll hurt themselves?!” is not just laughable, it’s borders on criminal.
Obviously, many gay men do have access to condoms. But, if they’re choosing to not use them, it’s up to us to devise new rules to the game.
Thank you for bring up some valid points, and opening the discussion, however I must also disagree with some of the issues in the FOUL article.
First off, Visual AIDS’s mission is to utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over. In doing so, we try to serve our … See Morediverse communities within our various projects, exhibitions, and events – including men, women, transgender and people of color. However for our Artist Edition Projects, which promotes Safer Sex and AIDS Awareness and has targeted different communities , we do limit the amount of “art direction”, unlike a “paid ad” campaign, and instead allowing the artists to express themselves directly.
Specifically, with these Play Smart Trading Cards, we selected four photographs to create work for these 12 trading cards and stickers. Of those four photographers, two are HIV positive artists represented in Visual AIDS’s Archive Project. The artists come from varied backgrounds, age and experiences (Asian/Canadian, Russian, American, professional photographers and self-taught). I asked the photographers to create sexy, sporty images. I did not direct their concepts or selection of models. The photographers and models were kind enough to donate their time and services for this cause.
With that said, I agree that there could be (SHOULD be) more diversity in these trading cards. I certainly was not trying to leave anyone out, and I will keep this in mind when producing our next set of Safer Sex / AIDS Awareness campaigns.
However I would disagree that the images themselves “reinforce poor self esteem, heighten senses of not belonging and ensure that the information is never obtained or retained.” The images play with ideas of fantasy and desire while using a playful sense of camp, “realness” and hyper-masculinity. The images may not be for everyone (desire can not be regulated), but to say they lack any diversity is to “silence, disappear and under mind” those you are trying to defend. You do not acknowledge that of the nine models, one is African American, one is Asian American, one is Latino. Also, at least one model is HIV positive. Within Play Smart there is also a range of age and to a certain extent “queer communities” (ie bear, twink, daddy, etc). More importantly, I would argue that your statement implies that one can not desire someone outside of there own race, demographic or body type. The cards do not determine who “get’s to have gay sex” and “who can / should be desired and protected.” These are bigger issues, that I agree need to be address in our LGBT and AIDS communities, but if someone finds at least one of these playing card interesting enough to put by their bedside (regardless if it’s because they like swimmer, jockstraps or guys in wigs and fake mustaches), then I hope they will have information on where they can get tested nationwide or learn what to do (PEP) if they think they have been exposed to HIV.
I also hope Play Smart continues to raise more discussions about HIV & sex.
Thank you for your passionate thoughts on this subject.
If anyone would like to speak to further about this or share their thoughts on how to grow and diversify this project, please feel free to contact me at nsantos@visualAIDS.org.
Sincerely,
Nelson Santos
Associate Director
Visual AIDS
a few seconds ago · LikeUnlike ·
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Nelson,
Things we agree on (that I should have said before):
*AIDS is not over and the fight needs to continue
*dialogue still needs to be provoked (which you’ve successfully accomplished)
*artists deserve support and more opportunities for free expression
*”there SHOULD be more diversity in these trading cards”
*you were not *trying* to leave anyone out
*the images are playful
*the images are NOT for everyone
*there *is* a range of age, and *some* range of body type
*there are bigger issues that need to be addressed in our community
*these cards are a GREAT resource for testing services & PEP (this last especially, since many are unaware)
However, I would disagree with the following statements:
*”desire cannot be regulated”
*”the cards do not determine who can / should be desired”
Desire is regulated with every visual campaign, from yours to Calvin Klein. This is *not* to say that visual campaigns enforce mandatory requisites of attractiveness, but that their influence does indeed regulate the marketplace of desire. The cards might not determine who should be desired, but they strongly influence who can and will be.
There are 12 images. You mention “that of the nine models, one is African American, one is Asian American, one is Latino”. According to data cited on Wikipedia (yeah, yeah, I know) from the 2000 Census, NYC’s population is 28% Black, 27% Hispanic (any race), and 10% Asian. An easy way to diversify the images is in the numbers. 12 images = 3 images of Black men + 3 images of Hispanic men + 1 (or 2) images of Asian men + 4 (or 5) images of the men we’re used to seeing in campaigns not nearly as diverse as yours.
The challenge in raising the bar, as you and your team have done, is being held to a more ideal standard. My critique of your work is a sign of respect. I wouldn’t engage with you otherwise.
In solidarity,
Lark Ballinger (speaking as an *individual* member of the community we share)
Amy,
I hold you in high esteem for your efforts and respect you even more for (proudly) accepting responsibility for your work. I agree that it’s “totally unfair to say that these cards are shutting down more complex conversations about HIV & sexuality,” which is why I didn’t write that. Of course, I can see how that sentiment might be inferred from my response. I would state, however, that the cards don’t inherently promote more complex conversations about HIV & sexuality. Although in fairness, I don’t think that was the point of your campaign anyway.
On paper, I know that my tone can be perceived as combative. (Hell, it can be perceived that way vis-a-vis, too!) As I mentioned to Nelson, I wouldn’t engage with you if I didn’t respect you. I don’t see anything done on either side so far to be “in-fighting”. My ire is not misdirected, in my opinion. I am more frustrated with the pressures on all of us that lead to simplistic conversations about HIV than I am with any one set of individuals.
The sad truth of the matter is that I don’t think your PlaySMART campaign is a misstep, per se, because it’s not misstepping anywhere that hasn’t been misstepped before. This is not an attack, but an acknowledgment that your mistakes, if any, are not new and exclusive to you and it would be unfair to view them as such.
I’m glad that we’re allies. (I hope I can consider you an ally. Pardon my presumption.)
We seem to agree that messages need to go beyond “just” condom use. Being visual artists, I’m sure you understand that content is one thing, and composition still another. Where we place condom messages in our materials sends a message in itself.
You want ideas? (You already have them!) Expand upon the “Rally Your Team” message. Speaking first personally as a community member, and second professionally as someone who works directly with the public, new infections often occur because folks haven’t been coached on how to rally their team. “Stats” mean nothing if they’re outdated. I repeatedly come into contact with people in my bedroom and my office—NOT the same people, mind!—who don’t yet have the skills to gauge the accuracy of someone’s stats. 25% of HIV-positive people are honestly giving out stats they themselves don’t realize are currently inaccurate.
I am excited to see the next steps you folks take in our collective fight for wellness!
Namaste (because you truly are divine),
Lark
[In the interest of continuity, I'm posting sections of the offline message that preceded the comment above.
Visual AIDS welcomes your thoughts on how to expand, hone, change, and continue the annual artist edition projects. If you are interested in distributing Play Safe or other editions, please contact us at info@visualaids.org.]
Dear Lark,
Hello and I wanted to say I agree with everything you wrote in your last response/comment. Maybe not the style but I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Seriously.
And to state that as an arts organization, of our size, our funding is pretty well unrestricted. So we (Nelson and I) take full responsibility for the choice of messages. Along with Demetre, who’s been following this thread.
And I’m not going to disavow these works. I’m glad they make us want more and better. That they point to what still has to be done, what is missing, and the real need to find more and more ways to “utilize art to increase dialogue about HIV” is true and an opener. I think its totally unfair to say that these cards are shutting down more complex conversations about HIV & sexuality.
We are challenged with how to produce artists editions for free distribution that work as complexly as art does. That function as art. This is our continual challenge – the idea of making art (culture) DO something. I think Ted and others feel this. Clearly some of our exhibitions & publications have been able to take this on more fully.
This is a project that Nelson and I had as a goal 9 years ago … and a project we were finally able to re-launch five years back. Each time we do it, we learn more and its through collaboration that the best works are created
…
We are imagining editions that initiate HIV/AIDS conversations beyond the personal preventative to systemic causes ie test and treat, criminalization of HIV, institutionalized homophobia, to affirming PWAs thriving and loving, prevention justice, and pointing at health care inequity. What is CHAMP’s slogan? HIV/AIDS is not a disease, its is proof positive of injustice. Actually doing this is a wagonload more difficult than writing it. So we’re working on it, as I know you are. Send more thoughts. Send ideas.
Amy
http://www.VisualAIDS.org
I’m Greg Mitchell, and one of the four photographers involved with what I personally believe (my own involvement regardless) as a brilliant outreach campaign by Visual AIDS’ “Play Smart” trading cards effort. Among my accomplishments throughout my life (and there’s a long resume to reflect those in many areas), I consider being part of this project at the top of those.
I would be remiss if I didn’t comment specifically on a number of issues which I have with your initial article:
1. First, creating art is not done by committee.
This was not a top 5 ad agency project where some beancounter whose PC-job was to assess, comment, and direct the artists’ work based upon race, creed, and so forth. (One can imagine those meetings, namely said beancounter saying “well, yeah there’s the black guy but could we find someone a little LESS black…..” and so forth).
Visual AIDS provided us with the overall concept of the project, and then said, go forth and create art that fulfills that mission in whatever form and face you, as the artists, deem successful.
2. Early in your op-ed piece (which is mixing both news reporting and personal opinion, so some factchecking and research should be have been involved), you say “For me the issue with the PLAY SMART trading cards is around how the narrow focus of whom is being ‘traded’ in the cards. All feature fit, able-bodied, predominantly white, men.”
Well, first off, a personal thanks from me — as I personally am both photographer and subject in my third image (the man in the singlet, who is the sticker among that group). Given that I will be 53 in two months, have been was diagnosed HIV positive in 1989, and haven’t seen the inside of a gym in some time, thanks for that thumb’s up. The fact that I’m a 6’1″ white guy from Wichita, Kansas with very blue eyes I have no control over — I am somewhat pigeon-toed, am wildly nearsighted in terms of literal sight, and take any project that comes my way, whether gallery exhibitions or a special project such as this with incredible seriousness.
However your piece slides past the fact that one of my three images is indeed an African-American in his twenties. Rather than include that image at the top of your piece (which of course would have diffused your critique substantially), you chose a photographer’s image where the subject is very white. Better to be a bit more forthright when you’re making strong accusations against Visual AIDS and its artists.
Further, if you had taken the time as a means of fact-checking and editorial thought, you might have made the effort to contact the individual artists for comment. I don’t know whether you contacted the other three esteemed photographers, but I can say with certainty you didn’t attempt to contact me.
If you had spoken with me, you would have learned that because I had a particuarly short timeline from start to finish, my anticipated hopes for my models were radically different than than the final results. My sought-after models included (a) two Latinos, one of whom never got back to me and one with whom I met who could not rearrange his schedule for my short timeline, and (a) two African-Americans, one of whom regretfully did not respond despite my repeated efforts to track him down (as he would have been spot on perfect) and the other of whom had committed to the project, but then postponed the first scheduled shoot and, a brief 30 minutes prior to his scheduled shoot, left a voice mail message that he had had a change of heart and was withdrawing from the project. To sum up, my images, if I’d had my way, would have included choices of one to three African-Americans, two Latinos, and one white man (and I would not have been a subject al all). But all of my choices for models — whether they are part of the final project, or not — were based not upon skin color, but rather that I was looking for the best possible choices for the project. And the ultimate selection of images, assuming everyone had followed through, would have been based upon the finest images, not upon any particular demographic. (By the by, this background in no way means to impugn the generosity and time of my pictured models, whose involvement I appreciate deeeply).
As for the POZ activist (and having myself had a POZ tattoo emblazoned visibly on my upper arm, way back in 1995) who asked after reading the name of the trading cards, “What? Am I having dumb sex? Are you calling me dumb?” — I have to say that logic (or rather lack of logic) is a big headscratcher to me. “Smart” means to , “dumb” indicates an unwillingness or inability to think.
finally, and not to get too “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” on you (we can wait for the upcoming play revival of that), but I hope in 2010 that there are more who think more along the lines of [when addressing the concepts of race] “You think of yourself as a black man, I think of myself as a man”. I’ve been sporadically dating a man who happens to be African-American; if that potential relationship goes south, it won’t be because of race, it’ll be due to that we’re “haves” and “haves not” (he, being the have, and me, being the have not.
Anyway: discussion, discourse, debate These are all good things. But everyone should have their facts on-track before they launch into to diatribes against organizations such as Visual AIDS who embrace make a difference, rather than sitting in the comfort of complacency.
Greg,
Before I respond to your comment, I’d like to ask your permission to quote you in your entirety, copying and pasting what you wrote in the Comments section on Ted’ Facebook note. The facts you bring to the conversation are important for context.
I truly appreciate both your efforts at presenting diverse images to the public—an activist act in and of itself—and letting it be known what your original intent was.
With all the preceding being sincerely expressed, I would be remiss if I didn’t comment specifically on a point you made in your response: “I hope in 2010 that there are more who think more along the lines of [when addressing the concepts of race] “You think of yourself as a black man, I think of myself as a man”.”
I don’t have the luxury of thinking of myself as *just* a man, not in a (gay) society that sees the color of my skin and treats me according to racist and prejudiced stereotypes. We agree that “creating art is not done by committee”. Yet, creating community is done by (visually) representing that community. I applaud you for trying to represent the diversity of our community in your work. With more successful follow-through on all sides, we will continue to approach the day when “there are more who think more along the lines” you mentioned.
That day isn’t here yet.
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