Jorge Bordello + Beto Pérez

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.

Jorge Bordello

Jorge Bordello is interested in the wrinkles between document and fiction, the family archive and national history, the montage of the body and public life. Specifically, he understands audiovisual reclamation as a model for conservation, cataloging, and parasitic production.

He was selected by the National Photo Library System for the 2012 Photoessay program and by the Image Center to take the 2016 Photographic Production Seminar. He has been a beneficiary of the Cultural Co-investments Program (FONCA 2011), Young Creators Grant (PECDAT 2013, FONCA 2016), and the Support Program for Municipal and Community Cultures (PACMyC 2015).

His work has been exhibited in spaces such as the New Museum (New York), Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), MACBA (Barcelona), Museum of Modern Art (Cuenca), Museu de Arte Moderna (Rio de Janeiro), and Museo Tamayo (Mexico City).

You can view Jorge’s artwork on the Visual AIDS Artist Registry here.

Beto Pérez

Beto Pérez is a joto* and bicho* born in the State of Mexico, Mexico. He is a visual artist and HIV organizer in Tlaxcala. He studied Hispanic Literature and then graduated in Dramatic Literature and Theater at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He has received the PECDA Young Creators Grant in 2013 and 2019. He is the winner of the 2018 Tlaxcala Journalism Award and an Honorable Mention in the 2018 National Journalism Award.

His most recent documentary, "In the future" premiered at the Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum, MOCA LA, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), MAMBO (Colombia), among others thanks to the support of Visual AIDS.

In December 2022, he founded cepa, the first network of artists and people living with HIV in Tlaxcala.

*Joto is a derogatory term in spanish that has been reappropriated by queer community in Mexico.

*Bicho (VIcHo) (Bug) is a form adopted in many countries in Latin America to refer to the seropositive status of people.

You can view Beto’s artwork on the Visual AIDS Artist Registry here.