AUCTION OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN ART TO RAISE FUNDS FOR HIV PROGRAMS IN AFRICA

30 southern African artists, Secure the Future™ and HAI to raise funds for affected women and children

For immediate release—BOSTON, MA— Thirty renowned artists from five southern African countries have united to raise awareness and funds to support efforts against the HIV epidemic that is threatening the region’s future. An exhibition of their works, entitled ArtWorks for AIDS, will be auctioned at the Harvard Club in Boston on November 30. All proceeds from the event will fund research and programs to confront HIV and AIDS in southern Africa.

The artworks explore the theme of HIV in southern Africa with an emphasis on women and children. The collection had its premiere showing at the 13th International Conference on AIDS in Durban, South Africa. Since then, the collection has travelled to Washington, DC, and Brussels. It will be shown at Harvard University’s Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge, November 24–28, before being auctioned in Boston on November 30. The artworks can be viewed online at http://aids.harvard.edu.

"These leading contemporary African artists were enthusiastic about using their talents in creating awareness and hope for persons with HIV/AIDS. The subject of HIV/AIDS is emotional and this project afforded them an opportunity to confront the pandemic from their unique perspective," says Marilyn Martin, director of the South African National Gallery in Cape Town and curator of ArtWorks for AIDS.

Dr. Max Essex, chair of HAI says, "We deeply commend this collaborative effort by artists in southern Africa to draw attention to the epidemic that is sweeping across the region, with a particularly devastating impact on women and children."

The Botswana–Harvard Partnership for HIV Research and Education, a partnership between HAI and the Botswana Ministry of Health, is one of the major beneficiaries of ArtWorks for AIDS. The partnership conducts epidemiologic and laboratory-based studies focusing on mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Botswana and trains southern African researchers and laboratory personnel.

The exhibition is co-sponsored by Secure the Future, the US$100m commitment by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company to support women and children living with HIV and AIDS in southern Africa. Kenneth E. Weg, vice chairman of Bristol-Myers Squibb, says that the exhibition is an innovative step towards bringing the realities of the AIDS crisis in southern Africa to the attention of caring people in other parts of the world.

"I have no doubt that ArtWorks for AIDS will contribute significantly to unlocking resistance, denial and discrimination and to generating hope and healing." he says.

Ms. Martin says that participating artists, who include some of the best-known southern African names in contemporary visual art, have illustrated their ideas in many different ways — abstract, enigmatic, didactic and hard-hitting. The works include photography, linocuts, oil on canvas, clay, wood and needlework.

The artists include: Jane Alexander, Deborah Bell, Willie Bester, Lisa Brice, Norman Catherine, Trudi Dicks, David Goldblatt, Austin Hleza (work provided posthumously), Lallitha Jawahirilal, William Kentridge (auction only), Noria Mabasa, Valentim Macie, Joseph Madisia, Neo Matome, Kagiso Pat Mautloa, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Velaphi Mzimba, Karel Nel, Sam Nhlengethwa, Wonderboy Thokozani Nxumalo, Steve Mashoabathe Rasehloho, Berni Searle, Johannes Mashego Segogela, Durant Sihlali, Penelope Siopis, Clive van den Berg, Hentie van der Merwe, Hercules David Viljoen and Sue Williamson.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is a $20 billion diversified, global health and personal care company whose mission is to extend and enhance human life.

HAI is a university-wide organization dedicated to conducting and catalyzing international research to end the worldwide AIDS epidemic.