Tenderness and Rage: how groups affected by HIV found power, comfort and joy in Aids activism

The exhibition Tenderness and Rage at the Wellcome Collection in London connects HIV activism and care with improved rights and dignity. It traces the early 1990s London AIDS epidemic and includes a documentary, Dancing Whilst Diagnosed, about the Landmark, a drop-in centre in Tulse Hill for people affected by HIV/AIDS. Former staff and volunteers describe confronting violence, stigma, and discrimination after diagnosis, while service users found joy and solidarity in a rare safe space. The safe space included parties with DJs, drag queens, and African music. A former service user describes feeling safe without needing to disclose HIV and without hiding. The exhibition also features works by HIV-positive women, including hand-stitched plushie body parts, and highlights groups affected by HIV such as gay men, women of colour, and refugees in the UK and worldwide.

"The show begins by looking back at the Aids epidemic in London in the early 1990s. A documentary, Dancing Whilst Diagnosed, tells the story of the Landmark, a drop-in centre in Tulse Hill, south London, for people affected by HIV/Aids. Former staff and volunteers recall helping people with the violence, stigma and discrimination that came with diagnosis. But they also reveal the joy and solidarity service users found in a rare safe space, including parties with DJs, drag queens and African music."

"Marc Thompson, a former service user who went on to work in HIV prevention and sexual health, said: It was the only place that I felt really safe about my HIV. I didn't have to disclose it to anybody. There was no guessing or hiding, so that really helped me navigate those early years of my own diagnosis."

"Thompson said the exhibition title captured the experience of the 1990s Aids epidemic. We were so hurt and damaged by everything that we were experiencing that the rage came out through loss or through protest. The tenderness resonated with me because of places like the Landmark. That was a place that we could go to get some of that rage soothed and looked after and be nursed and given a balm."

"From photos of a mass die-in by Aids activists in Trafalgar Square, London, in the 1990s to plushie breasts, lips and vulvas hand-stitched by HIV-positive women, a new exhibition explores how care and protest have improved the rights and dignity of those living with the disease. The show reflects how different groups affected by HIV, including gay men, women of colour, and refugees in the UK and around the world have found power, solidarity, comfort and joy in Aids activism and support services."

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