Access to Life

June 14–July 20, 2008

ACCESS TO LIFE EXHIBITION
OPENS AT THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART

Jonas Bendiksen, Jim Goldberg, Alex Majoli, Steve McCurry, Paolo Pellegrin, Gilles Peress, Eli Reed, and Larry Towell Chronicle Effects of Antiretrovirals on HIV/AIDS Patients Around the World

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Magnum Photos and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have teamed up in a historic partnership to chronicle the revolutionary effect free antiretroviral treatment is having on AIDS patients across the world. The resulting photo exhibition will open at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. on June 14 as the museum’s newest special exhibition, Access to Life. Employing the talents of eight photographers to portray the quiet revolution now taking place in the fight against AIDS, Access to Life will be on view through July 20, 2008.

The AIDS pandemic is the greatest public health challenge the world has ever faced, with a particularly devastating impact in many parts of the world where access to even basic health care is limited. Through carefully-monitored grants, the Global Fund supports treatment for millions of AIDS patients, all of whom would face certain death if antiretroviral drugs were not made available for free.

In 2007, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria initiated a joint project with Magnum Photos to graphically document the positive impact that free antiretroviral drug treatment is having on the lives of millions of AIDS patients around the world. The photographic cooperative Magnum Photos sent an international team of eight noted photographers to nine countries to document the transformative effects of treatment on more than 30 individuals and their families.

The photographic team included Americans Jim Goldberg, Eli Reed and Steve McCurry; Canadian Larry Towell,; Norwegian Jonas Bendiksen; Italians Paolo Pellegrin and Alex Majoli; and Frenchman Gilles Peress. In India, Haiti, Mali, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland and Vietnam, the photographers created visual chronicles that encompassed their subjects’ lives both before and after drug treatments.

Therefore, Access to Life is the artistic and educational response to the lifesaving success of the Global Fund’s work around the world.

The resulting exhibition, curated by Bill Horrigan, Director of Media Arts at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, is a powerful document of the strong spirit of each patient, of the life-changing impact of the drugs and of the crucial benefit of international funding.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Bill Horrigan has been Director of the Wexner Center's Media Arts program since 1989. Horrigan has curated moving image-based gallery exhibitions with such artists as Chris Marker, Johan van der Keuken, Shirin Neshat, Todd Haynes and Christine Vachon, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Julia Scher, William Kentridge and Phil Collins. He has published essays on artists Yvonne Rainer, William Jones, Sadie Benning, Mark Dion, Steve Fagin, Gregg Bordowitz, Kutlug Ataman, Tom Kalin, Neil Jordan, and Roman Signer, among others, and co-curated (with John Greyson) the Video Data Bank's 1989 Video Against AIDS project. He previously worked at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, and Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
After closing at the Corcoran in July, the exhibition will travel during 2008 and 2009. A book will be launched to coincide with the European opening. The exhibition comprises photography, video, and ephemera to create an intimate picture of AIDS and its treatment. Admission to Access to Life is $6 for adults; children six and under enter the exhibition free of charge.

PRESS PREVIEW
A press preview for Access to Life will be held on Wednesday, June 11 at 10 a.m. at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 Seventeenth St., NW. RSVP by June 9 to Kristin Guiter, Manager of Media Relations, (202) 639-1867, kguiter@corcoran.org.

ABOUT MAGNUM PHOTOS
Magnum Photos is a photographic co-operative of great distinction owned by its photographer-members. Acclaimed for their powerful individual vision, Magnum photographers chronicle the world and interpret its people, events, issues, and personalities with empathy for their subjects.

Founded at the Museum of Modern Art upon the close of World War II (1947) by legendary photographers Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and David “Chim” Seymour, Magnum Photos celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2007.

Today, the agency encompasses more than 70 photographers of extraordinary talent and diversity and reflects a long-standing tradition of individual vision. Through its four editorial offices in New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo; a digital library of 450,000 images; and a network of 15 sub-agents, Magnum Photos provides photographs to the press, publishers, advertising, galleries, and museums across the world. By capturing defining moments of the 20th century with iconic images that have shaped our collective memory, Magnum Photos continues to set a standard for photographic integrity and authorship. For more information about Magnum Photos, please visit www.magnumphotos.com

ABOUT THE GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is supporting lifesaving treatment with ARVs for more than 1.4 million people worldwide. The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector, and affected communities was founded just over six years ago and represents a new approach to international health financing. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts dealing with the three diseases. Apart from a high standard of technical quality, the Global Fund attaches no conditions to any of its grants. It is not an implementing agency, instead relying on local ownership and planning to ensure that new resources are directed to programs on the frontline of this global effort to reach those most in need. Its performance-based approach to grant-making is designed to ensure that funds are used efficiently and create real change for people and communities. All programs are monitored by independent organizations contracted by the Global Fund to ensure that its funding has an impact in the fight against these three pandemics. For more information about the Global Fund, please visit www.theglobalfund.org.

ABOUT THE CORCORAN
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, a privately funded institution, was founded in 1869 as Washington’s first and largest non-federal museum of art. It is known internationally for its distinguished collection of historical and modern American art as well as contemporary art, photography, European painting, sculpture and the decorative arts. Founded in 1890, the Corcoran College of Art + Design is

Washington’s only four-year college of art and design offering Bachelor of Fine Art degrees in Photojournalism, Digital Media Design, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Interior Design, and Photography; Associate of Fine Art degrees in Digital Media Design, Fine Art, Graphic Design and Photography; a five-year Bachelor of Fine Arts/Master of Arts degree in Fine Art and Teaching (BFA/MAT); and two-year Master of Arts degrees in Teaching, Interior Design, Exhibition Design, and the History of Decorative Arts. The College’s Continuing Education program offers part-time credit and non-credit classes for children and adults.

:: View images and further details from this exhibition

CONTACT:
Kristin Guiter
Manager of Media Relations
(202) 639-1867,
kguiter@corcoran.org

Media Resources:

For more information about the Access to Life Project, please click here

 

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