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It was the art community of Oaxaca who first responded to a call for a “common front” against AIDS, concerned naturally about the spread of this disease into their own and their loved ones. They acted immediately; artists donated works of art, art galleries organized exhibits and sales, theater artists staged special performances, often with HIV/AIDS as its theme, musicians and singers donated concerts to the work of the Frente Común. Here is a little of that story. …
A BRIEF CHORNOLOGY OF ARTISTIC EVENTS
1992
In February of this year, around 40 Oaxacan artists and a collaboration among three of the large art galleries, organized the first exhibition/auction to raise funds for persons with AIDS. The sale was held at the Gallery La Mano Mágica, in the historic center.
1992
“First Encounter” of the civic organizations of Oaxaca.
Oaxaca was fortunate to have its Mayor Alfonso Gómez Sandoval involved in AIDS efforts early on. The municipal government organized a first conference of some 85 representatives of institutions and organizations in April of 1992. The First Lady of Oaxaca, Nancy Mayagoitia, opened the event and challenged its members to work together in this cause. At the meeting were persons from the areas of Health, Education, Military, civil associations, the artistic community and members of the press and media.
”Together We Can” by Rubén Leyva As a part of the preparations for the city’s First Encounter, artist Rubén Leyva and friends painted an enormous backdrop of a symbolic multitude clasping hands and joining in a common cause. As shown at the top of this page, it would become the most popular image in the fight against AIDS in southern Mexico.
One day, a group of Oaxaca painters were meeting to decide on a campaign for posters directed to young people about the use of the condom. Suddenly, Leovigildo stood up and exclaimed, “This is it!” and grabbed a ball-point pen. The others look
The image was printed above the words “I love you, I protect you” on posters and donated advertising in the newspapers. Over time it was converted into a recognizable icon in our community, on T-shirts, billboards and baseball caps, especially popular around Saint Valentine’s Day.
The group, Teatro Vivo de Oaxaca, became the first in donating a special performance of its smash hit, “The Criminal Loves of the Vampires Sisters,” starring veteran actresses Graciela Moreno and Emy Colmenares, to benefit the Frente Común Contra el SIDA. Since then, many theater groups have followed their example with special presentations and fund-raisers.
1994
Ralfka González, a chicano artist now living in San Francisco, California, and long-time friend of the Oaxaca art community, produced this striking image in 1994. It was silk-screened by the Oaxaca Casa de la Cultura and filled the shop windows of the city for many months. Over the years he has contributed works of art and copies of his books to the Frente Común, an example to others in the fight against AIDS.
Well-known Mexican actor Alberto Mayagoitia has long been a supporter of his sister Nancy’s favorite cause, the Frente Común Contra el SIDA. In 1995 he enlisted the help of a good number of performers, singers, popular sports figures, AIDS activists, and producer León Serment in Mexico City, to produce this 55 minute entertaining and informative video. Ideal for schools, groups or home viewing, “It’s For You To Decide” tells the history of HIV/AIDS, how it is spread, and how we all can avoid contacting the virus. The video features, among others, Benny Ibara, Rita Guerrero, Laureano Brizuela, Demián Bichir, Octagón, and El Hijo de Santo. Barbara Salduando, Latinamerica HIV Coordinator of USAID in Washington, called it “the best AIDS presentation in Spanish I have seen.” Over 600 copies of this excellent video have been distributed throughout our state.
Through a grant from the state arts council, FOESCA, Oaxacan actor and dancer Dino Castro was the first to present HIV/AIDS as a dramatic theme on the Oaxacan stage. Written by Dino, directed by Sergio Santamaría, with scenery by Bill Wolf and produced by the Frente Común and the Oaxaca Contemporary Dance Company, the show traveled to a number of theaters and universities in Oaxaca. “Interpret My Silence” deals with a young man with AIDS, his anxieties and hopes as he comes to deal with his disease.
With the support of a grant from the Pan-American Health Organization of the UN, and with the collaboration of the AIDS group, Gunaxhii Guendanabani (Love of Life), from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and members of the Frente Común, this hit didatic drag show toured to eleven cities in the state. Directed by Sergio Santamaría, staffed by volunteers of the Frente, and starring a dozen popular Zapoteca muxes (drag queens) from the city of Juchitán de Zaragoza, the show offered young people a loud and clear message about the prevention of HIV/AIDS in their lives. It presentation in Oaxaca’s large opera house reported the largest audience in many years.
On a dramatic afternoon in front of the Oaxaca Cathedral, in a hospital bed, covered in an oxygen tent, bound head to foot in bloody bandages and connected to tubes of colored liquids, this controversial “performance artist” intentionally shocked the public of Oaxaca with his strong image of AIDS and his “nostalgia for death.” The event was part of a four-night cultural series about AIDS, presented by the Frente Común and the State AIDS Council, COESIDA, during the week-long AIDS conference by the University of California at Los Angeles, UCLA.
1998
On a beautiful night in August, the doors of the magnificent Theater Macedonio Alcalá opened to a large public and filled the air with the sounds of classical music. Cicely Winter had invited all of Oaxaca to contribute, with her, to the work of saving lives in our community. The press and media joined with her in free promotion, the state Arts Council donated the hall, and the people of Oaxaca responded. That night, Cicely Winter joined a long list of artists, musicians, actors, singers and dancers who have stood up and contributed directly to the life-saving work of the Frente Común Contra el SIDA.
That same year, the Frente Común opened the first condom store in southern Mexico. On that historic afternoon, this popular singing star joined hundreds of Oaxacans at a City sponsored street party. The local press called it “an enormous advance” in the work of the Frente Común. (SEE: “An Unforgettable Opening” by Sergio Santamaría, in the Condón-Manía selection of our Main Menu.)
Through the organization of several art galleries in Oaxaca and San Francisco, at the invitation of Mayor Willie L. Brown, Supervisor Tom Ammiano and California Senator John Burton, the sale of these fine works of art made a huge contribution to the work of the Frente Común. Sponsors included, In San Francisco: the Bucheon Gallery, Polanco Gallery, and Images a Gallery; in Oaxaca: Gallery La Mano Mágica, Arte de Oaxaca, Arte Mexicano, Corazón del Pueblo and Casa Colonial.
Local High School contributes its “The House of Bernarda Alba” by Federico García Lorca
The young people of the local arts high school, CEDART, this year decided to join the ranks of artists against AIDS, with a special performance of this moving Lorca classic, presented in an auditorium donated by the Oaxaca Teachers Union, SCCTE, to raise money for the work of AIDS prevention by the Frente Común. We salute these young people’s decision to be counted among the artists of Oaxaca who have made the fight against AIDS a vital part of their work.
2001 The following year, “Noche de Velas” (Night of Candles) saw the lighting of 845 candles in the form of a giant skull, in homage of the 845 AIDS deaths in the state, as a part of Oaxaca’s Day of the Dead celebrations.
When Henry and Rosa Wangenman, the owners of the popular Amate Books, in downtown Oaxaca, proposed to Alice Walker that she join the fight against AIDS in our city, she immediately agreed. Reading from her poems and stories, she called upon the people of Oaxaca to do everything possible to change the course of this disease on our planet.
2003
Rubén has long been a supporter of the Frente since his first design for the organization’s logo, “Together We Can,” in 1992.
“A Call to Young People” by singer, songwriter Judy Whitfield of Woodstock, New York
A long-time friend and contributor to the Frente Común, Judy recently spent a month in the city promoting the Frente’s Information Center, Condón-Manía. to the young people of Oaxaca. “This is the most important work I can be doing!” she said in the local press. Since her return to New York, she has been working with Planned Parenthood of Hudson Valley to raise money to contribute much needed condoms to our Center. We say thank you, Judy, and congratulations for your outstanding example to the art community world-wide in the fight against this disease.
2005
In September of this year, well-known writer Carlos Monsiváis came to the Frente’s Condón-Manía with a message of protection, “The really important work of the Frente is protecting the lives of Oaxaqueños against AIDS.” During his visit he summarized not only the current work of the Frente, but “the need to redouble our efforts every year in the prevention of AIDS.”
In the
following month of October, writer Elena Poniatowska congratulated our
organization for its work in prevention and protection being done in the
famous condom store, Condón-Manía, by the popular Señor Condón, who is,
she said, “an example to the whole nation.”
Finally in December, cinematographer Alejandra Islas, director of the recent, highly-praised “Muxe’s: Auténticas Intrépidas Buscadoras del Peligro” (“Authentic Intrepids Searching for Danger”), was visiting the city of Oaxaca for its premier and took time from her busy schedule to visit our own Condón-Manía. While there, she recalled the Frente’s previous work with the “muxes” of Juchitán in the highly successful “Intrépides VS. el SIDA,” in 1997. As she left, she bought condom number 39,999! And said, “This should give me good luck with my presentation in the Isthmus!”
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The artists of Oaxaca continue to support the important work of Frente Común with donations to our organization. We have many fine works of art for sale at affordable prices. (SEE: “Electronic Art Gallery” on our Main Menu.) Know that 100% of your contribution goes directly to the life-saving work of AIDS prevention at the Frente Común Contra el SIDA.
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ed an and quickly agreed, here was our new logo.
