PAN readers in Chicago will be able to view the first photo exhibition by photographer Meg Handler at the Centre on Halstead.
The exhibition is called Acting Up and Acting Out: LGBTQ & AIDS Activism, 1992-94 and features an edit of Meg’s photographs which provide an intimate look at New Yorkers engagement in AIDS activism and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
Meg says: ‘Diverse groups of New Yorkers came together for the collective cause of civil rights. At political funerals, marches, protests, parades, community centers, the people I photographed were aware of how media representation would define them. They were active participants in the making of these images.’
‘The show begins with the 1992 ACT UP Ashes Action, where members from all over the United States brought the ashes of their loved ones to George Bush’s White House lawn. This action remains one the most important of the group’s history. Closing the series is Ali Forney, photographed in 1994 at Safe Space, which was a center for at-risk youth in Times Square. Ali Forney, a homeless gender-nonconforming youth and peer counselor of and advocate for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, was murdered in New York in 1997. In 2003, The Ali Forney Center, which provides housing and support for homeless LGBTQ+ youths, was founded in their honor. These are the only existing photographs of Ali.’
‘This period brought myriad challenges to the LGBTQ community. What you see in these photographs is a combination of love, pain, pride, rage and resilience. The civil rights gains in the 25 years after Stonewall and up until today are now under attack, again. History teaches us we can look to the past to inspire, educate and ignite the next generation to fight for social change.’
Open now until Jan. 29, 2023 – Visit.