They also tap into people’s memories of AIDS. I remember so many of them so there is this sense of looking back. There's some sort of time travel going on. Having seen these things on the subways, because I lived in New York, and then to now be looking at them as a sort of study, well, it makes me feel old but it also makes me feel, "Wow, I was there." I'm not sure it's nostalgia. It's a multi-layered analysis of their urgency in that moment and also of them as artifacts now.
What do these posters represent in the history of HIV/AIDS on a global level?
They show how different countries and groups have handled public health issues. For example there are many from the Arab speaking world that advocate abstinence. While some from Europe, Germany in particular, are more stark and borderline pornographic. Some are image-based and others and are all text. Some are devastating, some are overtly political, some are super funny.
I think that [visual] humor works because it communicates to people across language barriers. Like the one with the Brazilian soccer team where they all have their hands in front of their crotches, which takes a whole new context compared to when you watch soccer.
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