An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940–2017

Aug 18, 2017–Aug 27, 2018

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Mourning and Militancy

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During the 1980s and 1990s, AIDS and complications from it killed nearly half a million people in the United States, a disproportionate number of them gay men and people of color. AIDS became one of the most searing issues in American life and politics. The artistic community lost thousands; still more friends, lovers, and family members faced lives transformed by grief, fear, indignation, and illness. The activist and critic Douglas Crimp argued that both “mourning and militancy” were required to address the AIDS crisis.

Many artists made activist work that criticized government inaction, promoted awareness and treatment, and expressed support for people fighting and living with the virus. Frequently adopting the visual strategies of previous protest movements, artists mobilized against AIDS by deploying a sophisticated understanding of media culture, advertising, and product branding. Their widely distributed posters, artworks, and graphics were often used at marches and rallies or were posted on the street.

In a different mode, AA Bronson’s billboard-size portrait of his friend and collaborator Felix Partz transforms a private image into a public statement. Partz is pictured just a few hours after his death from AIDS-related complications. By making viewers confront the image of someone who lived with AIDS and the rawness of his death, Bronson uses the memorial form to protest the magnitude of the crisis. As we continue to live with such loss, and AIDS still affects individuals and communities in the United States and globally, the rallying cry of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) resounds today: the AIDS crisis is not over.

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AA Bronson (b. 1946), Felix Partz, June 5, 1994, 1994/1999

Photograoh of Felix Partz on his death bed.
Photograoh of Felix Partz on his death bed.

AA Bronson, Felix Partz, June 5, 1994, 1994/1999. Inkjet print on vinyl, 84 x 168 in. (213.4 x 426.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Mark J. Krayenhoff van de Leur 2003.268. © 1999 AA Bronson

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