Call for Book Chapter Proposals: "Culture Wars: LatinX Artists and the AIDs Crisis"

Vernon Press invites submissions for the upcoming publication titled Culture Wars: LatinX Artists and the AIDs Crisis. The publication will examine the devastating effect of the AIDs crisis on the LatinX community in the United States during the 1980s, 1990s, early 2000s, and more recently. Art, performance, music, and theater will be considered as will the ways that the crisis influenced various generations of LatinX individuals within the creative community. Essays may either be monographic (focused on one particular artist) or survey a range of artists or artworks. Essays will be organized both thematically and chronologically, with emphasis placed on the 1980s, the rise of AIDs-related illnesses and deaths, as well as the growing influence of the LatinX community in the U.S. and the legacy of the Chicano Rights Movement.   

Absence, loss, fear, and chaos haunt the work of many artists whose lives were tragically cut short by the disease known as HIV/AIDs. By exploring the work of the generation of LatinX artists affected by AIDs, this volume will mine the intersection between culture, ethnicity, sexuality, and religion. Moreover, this book will assess the unique perspective of Latinx artists during this period – as they confronted not only their diagnoses and the culture at large, but also their status as immigrants in a divided land. Their ability to synthesize their ‘outsider’ status into their final artworks will reveal a complicated relationship to American identity.

Papers are encouraged that discuss the themes of HIV/AIDs, Catholicism, and the 1980s Culture Wars in particular relation to the LatinX community. Please consider the following artists for monographic or thematic articles: Carlos Alfonzo (1950-1991, b. Cuba), Carlos D. Almaraz (1941-1989, b. Mexico), Miguel Angel Reyes (b. 1964, Colima, Mexico), Luis Cruz Azaceta (b. 1942, Havana, Cuba), Jerome Caja (1958-1995), Enrique Castrejon (b. 1972, Taxco, Mexico), Rubén Esparza (b. 1962, El Paso, TX), Félix González Torres (1957-1996, b. Cuba), El Reverendo Pedro Pietri (1944-2004), and Joey Terrell (b. 1955, Los Angeles, CA).

This volume will also consider artists from the LatinX diasporic community whose lives were transformed by the suffering seen during the AIDs epidemic, such as Jean Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), Gronk, a.k.a. Glugio Nicandro (b. 1954, Los Angeles, CA), Arturo Herrera (b. 1959, Venezuelan), and Luis Camnitzer (b. 1937, Uruguayan), and performance artist Carmelita Tropicana, a.k.a. Alina Troyano (b. 1957, Cuba). Overall, this research will highlight a struggle that was significant both for Latinx art and for American culture more widely.

Papers may also consider contemporary artists working with the legacy of the HIV/AIDs epidemic and its continual presence in the queer and LGBTQIA+ art community. For example, artist Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) created a public installation piece in 2016 entitled In PrEP We Trust? for the PosterVirus Campaign, developed in association with AIDS ACTION NOW! This series by Fernandes considers how PreP has helped to de-stigmatize HIV/AIDs while also causing new problems – such as the rising cost of protecting oneself.

For context, this volume will also discuss the conservative backlash of the 1980s and how this zeitgeist exacerbated the suffering of those diagnosed with AIDs and their loved ones. Other well-known artists whose lives and work were affected by the AIDs crisis will also be considered, including Keith Haring (1958-1990), Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), and the Nigerian-born Rotimi Fani-Kayode (1955-1989). The construct of the ‘Culture Wars’ will also be examined, including the way that the term has both expanded and collapsed cultural difference – particularly within self-identifying groups such as the LatinX art community.

Please submit to an abstract of 500 words or less to Dr. Elizabeth Frasco by March 1, 2025 at the following email address: emf348@nyu.edu. Submissions covering previously unexplored subjects and less-known artists will be prioritized. All applicants will be notified of the status of their submission.