Greetings From Spain
Claudia Mendoza is a language and cultural assistant living in Spain and the newest blogger for MAKE ART / STOP AIDS. She is currently researching the ways in which artists are responding to the stigma of HIV/AIDS and the dynamics that exist between organizations involved with preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
It is not hard to find artistic inspiration in Spain but with World Aids Day just wrapping up, it was surprisingly arduous to find information linking artists and their response to the stigma that surrounds living with the disease. Living hours away from any of the major cities, in a small village with limited internet connectivity doesn’t help either. This could be, in part, due to the fact that the social stigma is still very prevalent in Spain. Many people do not want to talk about AIDS or have no idea that it is the country with the highest percentage of people affected. Depending on who you ask, this can also be true when dealing with other social subjects or taboo topics in a country such as divorce and homosexuality. When it comes to the spread of homogenous culture, however, many artists have a lot to say. Whether it is expressed in the architecture, historic sites, commissioned city projects or making social commentary by critiquing globalization through graffiti. Aside from the many local theaters and famous museums, Spain’s streets are filled with creative expression. And as far as Madrid goes, graffiti happens to be legal if it is perceived as increasing the aesthetic value of the city.
Artistic, sexual and drug liberation inundated Madrid’s streets, as well as the rest of the country after Francisco Franco died in 1975, ending his 36 year dictatorship. In brief, this set forth democratization as well as a series of social and artistic liberation movements whose consequences still reverberate. There are similar artistic movements taking place in Eastern Europe with the fall of the Berlin Wall, celebrating the 20-year anniversary break from communism. Many artistic movements in Spain happened to coincide with the rapid and dilated spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic throughout the world. According to a report published in 2001 by the Spanish Government, Minesterio de Sanidad y Consumo, “it was the European Country most heavily affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic”. They also claim that “this situation has changed in recent years, as great progress has been made in controlling HIV transmission, and AIDS incidence and mortality rates have been substantially reduced”. What is interesting about the latter is that there seems to be a gap or relatively little information made readily accessible from 2001 to the present, making it difficult to claim whether or not this is true.
The rapid spread of HIV/AIDS led to the development of 200+ organizations that deal with combating the disease. It is hard to say whether they all are focused on targeting the stigma because the populations most affected by this were (and continues to be) the homosexual and drug (intravenous) population. What’s more, a taboo seems to be developing within the gay community because AIDS is so commonly associated with being gay. The current statistic is that 1 in 6 homosexuals are infected with HIV. Many homosexuals are steering away from confronting the problem of the stigma of those living with AIDS. This leads one to ponder….. why? And if this is the case within the LGBT community, does the same apply for the heterosexual community also? If the stigma is not being confronted assertively, one must consider the implications that this has in helping or impeding the fight against AIDS.
While there is still much research to do, artists to know and organizations to discover, this project has been fruitful. It is slowly helping to uncover certain social attitudes and stigmas related to AIDS. In a society where taboo topics and innuendos still permeate through the culture, it is optimistic in that artists and organizations involved in combating the stigma appear to maintain realistic views while remaining hopeful. Their objectives and aspirations live up to a commendable standard that says, it is only in dealing genteelly with one’s problems that you can begin to overcome them.
