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Read the press release here.

New School Art Show Highlights Fight Against AIDS

By Andrea Swalec | November 28, 2011 6:41pm
Faith Hope Love by Luis Herrera, a Housing Works client, went on display at the New School on Nov. 28, 2011.
Faith Hope Love by Luis Herrera, a Housing Works client, went on display at the New School on Nov. 28, 2011.
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The New School Student Health Services

MANHATTAN — World AIDS Day was first observed on Dec. 1, 1988, before many New School students were born.

To connect young people with veterans in the fight against the disease, the college kicked off a month-long art installation on Monday called "An Art Exhibit of Transformation."

This first exhibit coordinated by the New School's office of Student Health Services and the AIDS advocacy group Housing Works looks at how lives have been changed by AIDS.

"HIV adapts to its carrier's body and we've all had to transform our lives in reaction to the AIDS pandemic," a description of the show reads. "This art exhibit … shows how we and our worlds have been transformed through or by the virus."

The intergenerational show — which is also sponsored by the LGBT nonprofit Queerocracy, as well as the New School's Eugene Lang College and Global Studies department — includes more than 15 pieces by Housing Works clients and New School students and faculty.

Housing Works is a nonprofit that advocates for the homeless and people living with or affected by AIDS that donates to New Yorkers in need.

Tamara Oyola-Santiago, a health educator at the New School, said the show is intended to galvanize the city and the college about addressing AIDS.

"World AIDS Day is December 1, but we should be struggling to eradicate AIDS every day of our lives. We use the show to explore that and to get ready for the rest of the year," she said.

The show, which is the brainchild of undergraduate health educator Gabriella Perez, will initially be held at the New School's office of Student Health Services, on the third floor of 80 Fifth Ave., from Nov. 29 through Dec. 7. It will then move to the fourth floor of the New School building at 66 W. 12th St., from Dec. 8-19.