A 35-page exhibition catalogue from the Visual AIDS summer exhibition No Bios, designed by Isai Soto. The catalogue includes images of artwork from the show, writing from artists and curator Isis Awad, a letter from Jerome Caja, and a foreword from Executive Director Emeritus Esther McGowan.
No Bios showcased artists whose practice is deeply personal and biographical in nature, while resisting the art world’s tendency to reduce marginalized artists to their identity markers. Drawing in part from the Visual AIDS archive and artist registry, curator Isis Awad brought together a group of queer and trans artists of color, some of whom are living and thriving with HIV, alongside artists who have been lost to AIDS-related illnesses. In contrast to the somber, tragic, and alarmist overtones that often frame representations of marginalized identities—especially those intertwined with HIV and AIDS—No Bios presented mischievously playful and beautifully mundane artworks that speak to a determination to exist beyond mere survival.