Thursday afternoon’s screening of AIDS activist Gregg Bordowitz’s films “Fast Trip, Long Drop” and “Habit” at the Blaffer Art Museum, gave the audience a glimpse into the life of someone dealing with AIDS.
As a part of the Tony Feher exhibition, Bordowitz used his art to narrate his life after being infected with AIDS and the movements surrounding the disease.
“It was important to me to foreground what Gregg Bordowitz and Tony Feher have in common in their approaches to art making,” said Amy Powell, curator of the event
In Bordowitz’s activist films, he uses graphic images and dialogue to express his emotions and the early movement’s relationship between illness and history.
“Habit” follows Bordowitz and his everyday life after living with AIDS for more than 10 years.
He goes through his day running errands, taking pills and having conversations with other afflicted friends. The film features the efforts made by the Treatment Action Campaign, an activist group in South America fighting for cheaper medicine.
Art history freshman Brandon Zech is a member of the Blaffer Student Association and came to the screening to learn more about Bordowitz. Zech said the films educated him on the AIDS movements and the life of people infected with HIV.
“It’s really interesting how these documentaries and films tie into the exhibition,” Zech said.
“They really pull at your heart strings when you begin to realize that these are real people and that so many people have the same story.”
Bordowitz’s videos educated the audience on how the movement continues to be a global force and how the media has changed to not portray AIDS as a fault of the gay community.
“They show us what it was like to go through the national health crisis as a result of HIV/AIDS … and how the tools of television and media can be re-purposed for political and social change,” Powell said.
