Recorded on July 23, 2022 in Santa Monica, CA, this video features poet and visual artist River Huston in conversation with artist and art educator Glammy Rose Spencer. In an exchange that is by turns illuminating, hilarious, somber, and joyous, the two artist reflect upon a number of shared experiences, such as navigating care in the United States as HIV-positive women, reckoning with the aftermath of sexual violence, channelling grief for the loss of their loved ones into art, and using the power of comedy to both cope with and subvert systems of oppression such as sexism, transphobia, capitalism and patriarchy. River reflects on her decades of activism fighting for equitable treatment of women living with HIV and her documentation, via poetry, prose, painting and photography, of HIV-positive women’s narratives. Glammy shares how her practice as both an artist and an art teacher for young people in the Bay Area has helped her honor her ancestors while also positively contributing to the lives of future generations. The pair’s mutual admiration is electric and sincere, and offers a framework for how to honor and hold space for one another against adversity.

Recorded on January 29, 2023 in Palm Springs, CA, this video features artists Joe De Hoyos and Alexander Hernandez in conversation. The two bond over shared experiences such as navigating Latin cultures as HIV-positive men, working with unusual materials in formally unconventional ways, and trying to find artistic community in an increasingly commodified California art world.. They also share many intergenerational struggles, such as adapting to new medication regimens, pushing back against various forms of stigmatization, and maintaining financial independence despite oppressive systems designed to keep sick people in precarity. With candor and tenderness, De Hoyos and Hernandez remind us that connection, care, and community can be found anywhere so long as we are willing to reach for it.

Recorded on July 23, 2022 in Eric Rhein’s studio, this video features artists José Luis Cortés and Eric Rhein in conversation. Both artists were included in the 1995 exhibition The First 10, which featured works by the first ten artists represented in the Visual AIDS Archive. As long-term HIV/AIDS survivors with a rich mutual history, José and Eric unpack the complexities of their childhoods, their introduction to art-making, living through their HIV-related illnesses and early treatment methods, governmental corruption, and the importance of stewarding a legacy. In an additional video, José and Eric each take a moment to more intimately showcase certain pieces of their work, discuss various ephemera they’ve gathered, and connect with Constantine Jones about the intergenerational differences in experience living with HIV.

Recorded on May 22, 2022, in Curtis Carman’s apartment in New York City, this video pairs visual and drag artist Curtis Carman in conversation with cartoonist and ballroom icon Milton Garcia Ninja. In an emotionally vulnerable and tender exchange, the pair reflects on the cultural impact and overlap of drag / ballroom cultures, the complicated politics of Pride, their unique approaches to living their art in both material and embodied mediums, and more. Additionally, each artist takes a moment to individually showcase some of their artwork and delve deeper into their processes in two shorter videos.

Recorded in Tlaxcala, Mexico, in 2022, by video artists Jorge Bordello and Beto Pérez, this video is a poetic meditation on a range of themes, including masculinity, class, unequal access to medication and care in Mexico, and the importance of making work specifically to uplift and give voice to people living with HIV.

Recorded April 14, 2022 in Lucas Michael’s studio in Manhattan, this video features artist and activist Shirlene Cooper and artist Lucas Michael in conversation about a wide range of topics—from their HIV diagnoses and compounded pressures of living through both the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics, to their art practices and moments of shared joy. The pair’s optimism and mutual admiration is a powerful testament to the strength of long-term survivors.