World AIDS Awareness Day was Dec. 1. There wasn’t much official recognition given to it here. We don’t pay much attention to HIV/AIDS any more. Milwaukee philanthropist and LGBT activist Joseph R. Pabst made international headlines this past year when he donated the (in)famous papal portrait made of condoms to the Milwaukee Art Museum. But, although the latex likeness caused a stir, its AIDS message was obscured by the collective pearl-clutching indignation it provoked.
This year’s World AIDS Day was similarly overshadowed by actor Charlie Sheen’s announcement that he’s HIV positive and has been so for four years. Unfortunately, like any misfortune in Hollywood celebrity life, it was immediately misrepresented and made into a media circus.
Befitting our national penchant for the fear narrative, the Latin Post wrote Sheen’s face showed lesions indicating his progressing HIV “disease.” An “Inside Edition” segment showed Sheen’s ex, former porn star Bree Olson, tearfully denouncing him for not informing her of his status. It aired a video selfie she made while driving to be tested. (Driving while videoing oneself is probably riskier than sex with Charlie Sheen, but never mind.) The report said Sheen’s HIV was “barely” detectable. That sounds like his viral load is detectable. However, Sheen is undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART) and is “undetectable.” There’s a very significant difference. But, the media omitted this very important fact because it deflates the fear factor and doesn’t make ratings. The risk of transmission by a person with an undetectable viral load is negligible. In fact, the ongoing PARTNER study has shown none.
Sheen’s admission came with a narcissistic notion he is doing something for the HIV/AIDS cause by, as he put it, “helping dispel the stigma of HIV.” Truth is it helps relieve him financially—he was being extorted by “close friends” who knew he was positive. As far as the other goes, the news may have regenerated the fear of HIV+ individuals and reinforced the stigma. Safely or not, it is actually a far greater risk to have sex with someone who does not know their status than to have sex with someone who is undetectable. Sadly, that message has been lost.
Meanwhile, just reopened after a year’s renovation, the Milwaukee Art Museum has quietly installed its own recognition of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Among the galleries presenting the current collection on view is an inadvertent shrine. Of the four artists represented there, three are gay and most of their work is specifically AIDS related. One, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, died of AIDS in 1996. His three sculptures are metaphors on relationships, sickness, death and rejuvenation. Ross Bleckner’s painting conveys a haunting memorial to those who have died of AIDS. Guillermo Kuitca’s drawing is essentially a schematic of cemetery plots. And, while gay African American Glenn Ligon’s painting does not address AIDS as a theme, it treats the relative subject of stigma and rejection. The remaining piece by Lawrence Carroll, one of his untitled “sleeping paintings,” joins in this gallery’s contemplative context of taking away, love and loss.
It’s a worthwhile pilgrimage.
