VISUAL AIDS PRESENT POSITIVE ASSERTIONS: FOUR ARTIST SNAPSHOTS

At the NYC LGBT Community Center – and Visual AIDS present an interactive slideshow with four on-the-ground LGBT artists: Amos Mac, Devin Elijah, Ivan Monforte and Jessica Whitbred, hosted by Sacha Yanow.

By Melanie Nathan, Feb 07, 2013.

The Center is proud to partner with Visual AIDS to present Positive Assertions: Four Artist Snapshots, an interactive slideshow with political and provocative artists, as part of the Center’s long-running Second Tuesdays lecture series. Four artists, Amos Mac (Original Plumbing), Devin Elijah (photographer), Ivan Monforte (GMHC) and Jessica Whitbred (AIDS ACTION NOW!), will show their work and discuss how they use their bodies, sexuality and identity in their art in a conversation hosted by Sacha Yanow (Art Matters). Admission is free. For more information, visit gaycenter.org.

Positive Assertions is in support of the Visual AIDS Print + Edition, “Play Smart,” an honest and sexy approach to promote HIV harm reduction, testing and post-exposure prophylaxis among gay men. This is the third edition of the “Play Smart” series, featuring works from Amos Mac, Iván Monforte, Richard Renaldi and Christopher Schulz. “Play Smart” aims to create positive images of different bodies. Positive Assertions works to support the “Play Smart” work by opening it up for discussion.

About the Artists
Amos Mac is an artist, writer and publisher who photographs the dynamic, the gender non-conforming, the under-represented and beyond through high-end snapshot-styled portraits. In 2009 he launched Original Plumbing, the premier quarterly magazine that documents the culture of transgender men. His photographs have exhibited internationally and his written and photographic work has been published in the Huffington Post, Italian Vogue, CANDY, BUTT and OUT.

Photographer Devin Elijah is of Jewish and African American descent. His portrait work spans the diverse stream of personalities that populate his life. His current work, “A Chronicle of Love & Loss in Sickness & in Health” is a Polaroid series that serves as a reflection of self as well as the surrounding community of artists, musicians and muses that nurture his need to photograph. He’s exhibited both internationally and in his native New York City, where he currently lives and works.

New York-based Iván Monforte was born in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. He has shown at Bronx Museum of the Arts, Longwood Art Gallery, Queens Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, Artists Space as part of PERFORMA05, Elizabeth Foundation Gallery, Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, La MaMa Galleria and Socrates Sculpture Park. He has participated in residencies at Sidestreet Projects, Lower East Side Print Shop, Center for Book Arts and Smack Mellon.

As a queer woman living with HIV, Jessica Whitbread explores her own sexuality and curiosity, often in public places, in hopes of making it easier for others to do the same. Jessica has a master’s from York University in Building Communities to Ignite Social Change which she does through her tea parties, No Pants No Problem events and POSTER/virus project with AIDS ACTION NOW!.

Sacha Yanow is a NYC-based performance artist, actor and the Director of Art Matters. As a performer, she has appeared in film, theater and dance works by artists including Karen Finley, Julie Tolentino and Laura Parnes. Her own performance work has been curated at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Dixon Place and The Kitchen and supported through residencies at The Field and Yaddo. She is a member of the Dyke Division of the Theater of a Two-Headed Calf.

About Visual AIDS Visual AIDS is the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness through producing and presenting visual art projects, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS. We are committed to preserving and honoring the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and the artistic contributions of the AIDS movement. We embrace diversity and difference in our staff, leadership, artists and audiences. Visual AIDS utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV positive artists and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.

WHAT:	Second Tuesdays: Positive Assertions: Four Artist Snapshots
WHO:	Amos Mac (Original Plumbing), Devin Elijah (photographer), Ivan Monforte (GMHC), Jessica Whitbred (AIDS ACTION NOW!), Sacha Yanow (Art Matters)
WHEN:	Tuesday, February 12, 2013 6:30-8 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; event at 7 p.m.
WHERE:	The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center 208 West 13th Street New York, NY 10011

About the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Established in 1983, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center is at the heart of the LGBT community in New York City, providing quality health and wellness programs in a welcoming space that fosters connections and celebrates our cultural contributions. We strive to serve the LGBT community with a full-service, multi-faceted approach to programming, from hosting arts and entertainment events, advocacy groups and family gatherings to offering youth, recovery and overall wellness programs. Each year, the Center welcomes more than 300,000 visits to our building in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan from people who engage in our life-changing and life-saving activities. We are proud to be your community Center. To learn more about our work, please visit www.gaycenter.org.