Lost Loss

This exhibition brings together works by Ernesto Briel, Feliciano Centurión and José Leonilson, three artists from Latin America who tragically died in the 1990s as a result of AIDS-related illnesses. This selection attempts to provide a basis for the consideration of the psychological and practical implications of diagnosis with HIV in the early 1990s at a time when prevention and treatment medications were less advanced and when the illness was surrounded by higher levels of stigma, misinformation and prejudicial attitudes. The title of this show, Lost Loss, aims to centre and acknowledge the grief and countless losses experienced in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of this illness both on the part of the artists themselves and their loved ones. However, the title also suggests that through an acknowledgement of the artists’ presence within the bodies of work left behind there may be the possibility for an alleviation of grief, or a loss of loss. All three artists manifested deeply personal systems of belief which are apparent in their works, they borrow disparate religious and spiritual imagery and sentiments without necessarily subscribing to particular pre-existing models of faith. Their expressions of faith become deeply moving in the works made in the last years of their lives, mirroring the function of conventional religious beliefs in the way that they help people (and their loved ones) deal with grief and illness, providing comfort and often the prospect of life beyond death. Traversing a variety of media, the works in this show also explore alternative masculinities and the beauty of queer love. The selection attempts to reveal differences between works created pre and post-diagnosis in terms of the scale and material as well as the content.