CANFAR’s Legacy 2.0 has returned to Ottawa!
Members from our nation’s capital and the wider 2SLGBTQIA+ community in Ottawa were invited to join CANFAR in support of our mission to end new HIV transmissions in Canada by 2025. A key pillar of that goal is our National Youth Awareness platform, Sexfluent, which the Legacy 2.0 program directly supports. Sexfluent is an online resource that aims to reach at-risk youth and empower them to make more informed and healthier decisions around their sexual health, relationships, and susbtance use, by providing information on sexual and mental health, harm reduction, gender identity and sexuality, and HIV and other STIs.
The Event
As part of our activities, our Legacy 2.0 Ottawa chapter had the privilege of a guided tour of General Idea’s impressive body of “artivisim” by the curator of the exhibition, Adam Welch, at the National Gallery of Canada, followed by food and drinks at the beautiful Tavern at the Gallery.
The evening began with words from our Legacy National Chair, David Tremblay, and our Director of National Awareness, Roxanne Ma. The incredible Marvelous Muchenje from ViiV Healthcare then spoke about the company’s support of CANFAR and community-driven initiatives, before curator Adam Welch led our private tour.
The Exhibit
Occupying over 16,000 sq. ft. of the historic National Gallery of Canada, the General Idea exhibition is a compendium of creations by the Canadian queer art trio comprised of Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal, and AA Bronson.
Both Felix and Jorge would pass from AIDS-related complications in 1994. But for 25 years, General Idea challenged perceptions of queerness and queer spaces in the world before some of their most famous works arose out of the HIV epidemic in the 80s.
Whether appropriating Robert Indiana’s LOVE motif, exploiting its popularity to draw attention to the virus, or comparing the celebrity focus on stopping the seal trade to the backdrop of inaction on the AIDS crisis, General Idea’s works are as meaningful as they are arresting.
The General Idea exhibition is on until November 20, 2022 at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
Our Community
We want to thank curator Adam Welch for his detailed, contextual, and passionate retelling of General Idea’s legacy, the National Gallery of Canada for hosting us for this impactful evening and Dina Groulx for making sure everything ran smoothly, and the Tavern at the Gallery for providing us a beautiful space to discuss the exhibition and all we had learned.
Thank you to all who attended, and check out the beautiful photos below by Wellington Imagery.
Finally, CANFAR’s Legacy 2.0 and its national expansion would not be possible without the dedicated support from ViiV Healthcare.
If you’d like to learn more about our Legacy 2.0 Ottawa, Toronto, or Montreal chapters, click here.
