Silence = Death. [Poster]
New York: ACT UP, 1987. Large illustrated poster (measures 33.5" × 22").
"The primary objective of Silence = Death was twofold: to prompt the LGBTQ community to organize politically around AIDS and to imply to anyone outside the community that we already were…It needed to be advertising" (Avram Finkelstein in an interview with NYPL, 2013). Original poster designed by the activist group Silence = Death Collective in 1987, and issued here by ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The collective was established in 1986 by activists Avram Finkelstein, Brian Howard, Oliver Johnston, Charles Kreloff, Chris Lione, and Jorge Socarrás. Outraged by the lack of public discourse, political action, and government intervention concerning the epidemic and grieving the many friends lost to the virus, the six men formed the consciousness-raising group, where the idea for the iconic poster came about. They began pasting posters in the New York neighborhoods most affected by the crisis (the West Village and Chelsea), and ACT UP, a political action group established in 1987, soon adopted the emblem with the collective's permission. Illustrated in black, white and pink. This is an early issue of the frequently reproduced poster, with The Silence = Death Project listed as the copyright holder, the statement granting ACT UP use permission, but lacking the text questioning the Reagan administration, the CDC, the FDA and the Vatican (cf. the copy held by the NYPL: https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/fortitude/item/5511). Minor creasing. Near fine. Item #11034
$2,000.00