T-CELLS AND SYMPATHY

Brenda and Other Stories
Walsall Museum and Galleries
Walsall, UK

Installation | 1996
Material: House paint, second-hand kitchen tables and chairs, earth, teapots, plastic plaques, wooden shelving, medical paraphernalia, items from local charity shops, birthday cake

first image | installation view of far and right walls
T-Cells was about the process of building a memory bank of both good and challenged times for families affected by HIV/AIDS.

On the shelves were thematic displays of household items mixed with medical supplies and HIV/AIDS information in several South Asian languages. Teapots were placed on earth-covered kitchen tables.

second image | installation view of the right and back walls
T-Cells focused on an often-overlooked population affected by the HIV epidemic: children and families. Some children are infected through maternal-fetal transmission, but the vast majority is not infected with the virus and will be survivors of their mothers, most often the single parent. As a result, an increasing percentage of the orphans in the world will be from HIV/AIDS.

third image | installation view
At the time I was developing T-Cells, a national children agency had mounted and traveled an exhibition of art and writings by children living in families affected by HIV/AIDS. The agency offered material for T-Cells, and mounted on the fourth wall were excerpts that were engraved onto plastic plaques.

Sample text: I can’t stop the tears. Joanna, age 11

fourth image | detail