""It was such an artistic experience, going to the hospital," the 74-year-old artist says. "I had my camera out. They're saying 'recovery is rest', but for a stroke, they say 'you better move', so, I'm moving." It is tough to keep McDonald down for long. She brandishes a cup. "I love my water in a clear glass," she says. "You must always be able to see the glass as half-full, not half-empty.""
"McDonald discovered ceramics in the wake of her HIV diagnosis in 1995, deep in the throes of drug use and pursuing sex work to survive. In the late 1990s she began an art therapy programme through the Jewish Board of Family Services and was soon connected to Visual Aids, the New York-based organisation that supports HIV-positive artists and artistic production."
"In 2009, McDonald was ordained a minister at the Church of the Open Door. She has gone on to work as an activist and advocate for HIV awareness, unhoused women and girls, incarcerated women and the Aids ministry of her home church. Her art reflects this penchant for connectivity both as a community doyenne and a loving great-grandmother of seven, often depicting figures praying, embracing or engaging in"
Joyce McDonald endured heroin addiction, sexual abuse and an HIV diagnosis before discovering ceramics in the mid-1990s through art therapy. She connected with Visual Aids to support her artistic production and developed photography and clay work that often depicts praying and embracing figures. Ordained in 2009 at the Church of the Open Door, she works as a minister and advocate for HIV awareness, unhoused and incarcerated women and her church's AIDS ministry. She continues recovery from a stroke and sinus cancer while maintaining an optimistic, community-centered practice and presenting a first museum survey at the Bronx Museum.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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