HIV Positive was conceived in late 2022 between Queer.All.Year’s founder, CP Robinson and Annabel Innes, director of the change-making creative studio and CIC, FORM+FUNCTION. The first of its kind on this scale in Portsmouth, the project sought to inspire conversations to tackle HIV stigma, improve education within the wider community and serve as a focal point for the LGBTQ+ community.
Working with queer artists from across the world, local communities and national organisations, 4 designs have been created that responded to our creative brief to showcase ‘HIV Positivity in 2024’ and have now been installed in an 80m long mural visible from Southsea Common.
The mural’s nature, as a series of paste-ups is temporary and will degrade over time, be added to, repaired, rebuilt, tagged over and likely eventually completely covered as a reflection of the journey we as a community have been on with HIV and AIDS awareness, stigma, and understanding.
The project team at Queer.All.Year and FORM+FUNCTION wish to extend their thanks to The Queen’s Hotel, Mister.Samo, Midge, Liberty Sadler, Cock Dicks, Horatio Abdala, and Elara Heart.
This project has been made possible with the provision of a financial grant from Gilead Sciences Ltd
Inspired by the powerful memorial AIDS quilts and traditional union banners as markers of solidarity and unity, Liberty Antonia’s piece is an ode to the persistent care and activism of the queer community that has led to incredible progress in the treatment and prevention of HIV. A celebration of queer futures and a ‘thank you’ to our LGBTQ+ elders; this piece bursts with colour and pride, featuring details of safer sex methods, regular testing and enjoying life to the fullest.
Liberty Antonia Sadler is an artist and filmmaker, working with mediums of drawing, text and moving image to explore issues of body politics, with a focus on the experience of living in a large queer body. Working within a personal-political context, she uses characters, bold colours and raw playfulness to discuss themes of size, vulnerability, queerness, sexuality and food. Their research explores the power of personal storytelling within art practice and representation of fat bodies in arts and media, Liberty Antonia is the founder of artist film night MicroActs, based in London.
Cock Dicks has personified the preventative options for stopping the spread of HIV: condoms, PrEP and PEP. She has brought them to life with charming and cheeky expressions as a reminder of the joy experienced when practising safe sex.
With a surname like Dicks and a mothers maiden name of Cock, Sarah felt combining the two made the perfect name for her artistic endeavours! Combining her love of colour, surrealism and just sticking eyes on anything and everything, the artwork of Cock Dicks uses pop culture references and a vibrant colour palette to explore both the world around her and the inner workings of her mind.
With a background in performance design, Cock Dicks likes creating on a variety of scales and using different mediums, be it small fugly portraits or large scale murals, gouache paintings or bizarre larger than life costumes. Always with a sense of wonder and whimsy, her aim is to make you smile or perhaps even think a little deeper.
One of the objectives of Horno is to show how you can enjoy sex, bodies and experiences in multiple ways. From a relaxed and humorous perspective, the focus is on showing intense emotions of people.
Horacio Abdala (aka HORNO) is a visual artist and Graphic Design student at FADU. Born in Buenos Aires, he has used drawing as a form of expression and free therapy since childhood.
In recent years, he has focused his work on the body and diversities, aiming to provoke and evoke different emotions through an ultra-erotic (and humorous) approach.
Making his sexual orientation public has, in a way, led him to be more sincere with his artistic side. The use of a pastel and friendly colour palette was strategically employed to facilitate an initial connection with conservative audiences before exposing more provocative pieces. Deceiving the viewer to capture attention before the “shock” was the initial focus of his work, aiming to generate confusion and empathy. Inspired by romantic music, artistic gymnastics, Xvideos, and various everyday references, he seeks to portray his emotions and fantasies.
Elara is a proud transwoman and lesbian based in the UK. As a passionate graphic and web designer, she channels her creativity and dedication into advocating for LGBTQ+ causes and rights. For the HIV Positive project, Elara’s mission is to create a compelling digital platform that amplifies the project’s message and gives the artwork a platform to have its full impact. By integrating interactive elements, she ensures that the information is not only accessible but also engaging and impactful. Elara has poured her Heart into this project, striving to make every aspect visually striking and deeply meaningful.
Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and now based in Portsmouth, UK, Elle is a passionate graphic and web designer with over a decade of professional experience. Her journey of gender transition, which began four years ago, has profoundly influenced her work. Embracing her true self has empowered Elle to express her authentic voice through her work, using her skills to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and causes.
As a self-employed, single mother, Elle founded her business, Elle Design, where she works as a Multimedia Designer. Her flexible artistic approach allows her to tailor her style to meet the unique needs of each client, ensuring every project is imbued with her dedication and distinctive flair.
Her primary goal as an artist is to create designs that resonate with her client’s tone and voice and tells their story. Through her work, Elle strives to make a tangible impact, contributing to the health, well-being, human rights, and love of the LGBTQ+ community.
HIV only affects men who have sex with men.
HIV can affect anyone, and anyone can get infected. Heterosexual HIV diagnoses accounted for 49% of new diagnoses in 2022, compared to 45% in gay and bisexual men.
HIV means you can never have sex again without passing it on.
A lot of stigma still affects those living with HIV, but with appropriate treatment, people living with HIV can reduce their ‘viral load’ to the point it’s no longer even detectable in their blood. This means they can’t pass it on, even through unprotected sex.
HIV will kill you.
HIV, if undetected or left untreated can develop into AIDS which is life-threatening. However, with modern testing and treatment methods, HIV caught early can be managed effectively and is no longer life-threatening.
HIV can be passed on through infected semen, vaginal fluids, rectal secretions, blood, or milk from chestfeeding. A person can pass HIV on to their baby in the womb, during childbirth, and from chestfeeding, though effective HIV medication makes this extremely unlikely.
Despite all the advances in clinical care, life for people living with HIV can be difficult because of stigma and discrimination. HIV stigma is often based on outdated ideas and made worse by discrimination in other areas like gender, sexuality, or race. To get to zero new cases of HIV, zero preventable deaths, and 100% of people living well, we must fight stigma and discrimination.
Queer.All.Year is a ‘campaign arm’ of Portsmouth Pride delivering year-round projects to benefit the queer* community in Portsmouth through a lens of intersectional activism. Delivered entirely by volunteers in the community, we organise sober social events, promote community action, facilitate protests and vigils, and deliver funded projects in a range of areas such as sport, health, culture, and arts. Our tone is guerilla with overt campaign messages, sometimes kitsch-camp and sometimes anarchistic.
*by ‘queer’ we mean anyone who – in any part of their life – challenges the social-norm constructs of gender and/or sexual identity.
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