Stephen Fry
Actor and Activist
For me, AIDS was always personal. Fear kept me safe, but a large—too large—cohort of friends did not stay safe. Like me, they emerged from university into a world that had suddenly become a biological minefield. Unlike me, they didn’t miraculously skip clear without ever treading on a mine. In the bars and clubs the whispers multiplied. “There is no cure.” “You will die.’” “There is no cure.” “There is no cure.” “You will die.” “For certain you will die.” “There is no cure.” In my twenties I went to too many funerals. More funerals than anyone my age had gone to since the last war, I suppose.
View the full collaboration here: Reflecting on AIDS: Jenny Holzer in Collaboration with Surface
Artwork by Jenny Holzer
©2016 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Photos: Dani Vernon