The Centre for Screen Cultures, in collaboration with the St Andrews Centre for Contemporary Art, partnered with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2023 to present Everyone I Know is Sick, a programme of five videos generating connections between HIV and other forms of illness and disability.
The programme featured newly commissioned work by Dorothy Cheung (Hong Kong), Hiura Fernandes & Lili Nascimento (Brazil), Beau Gomez (Canada/Philippines), Dolissa Medina & Ananias P. Soria (USA), and Kurt Weston (USA).
Inspired by a statement from Cyrée Jarelle Johnson in the book Black Futures, Everyone I Know Is Sick examined how our society excludes disabled and sick people by upholding a false dichotomy of health and sickness. Inviting us to understand disability as a common experience rather than an exception to the norm, the programme highlighted a range of experiences spanning HIV, COVID, mental health, and aging. The commissioned artists foregrounded the knowledge and expertise of disabled and sick people in a world still grappling with multiple ongoing pandemics.
The screening was followed by a conversation with Dr Nat Raha (Glasgow School of Art) and artist Sasha Saben Callaghan on the themes presented by the film programme.
Visual AIDS is a New York-based non-profit that utilises art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.