Overview:

Art and visual media have played a large role in educating the public about the AIDS/HIV epidemic since the 1980’s. There was and still is a negative stigma associated with AIDS/HIV that discourages many individuals from turning to medical professionals for education and treatment of AIDS/HIV. This collection explores various forms of art and how they are used to both educate the public about HIV/AIDS and encourage activism. The project zero thinking routines included in the collection encourage students to analyze the art as well and think critically about the beliefs and feelings of all those within the system: patients, their friends and family, the general public and politicians.

Questions for discussion throughout the lesson include:

• Can you find beauty in this image/story?
• Can you find truth in this image/story?
• What is the story?
• What is the untold story?
• Compare two works of art, what is similar? What is different?
• Why might this topic matter to me, the people around me, the world?
• How does this person understand this system and their role within it?
  

Pacing/curriculum:

This lesson was designed for a high school course that specifically covers healthcare with an emphasis on modern clinical medicine, including topics such as cultural sensitivity, medical ethics, and reproductive rights. It can also be used in courses covering life sciences, biology, civil rights, and American history.

The collection is designed to be used in one to seven 55-minute class periods depending on the number of sections each student is assigned to complete. The collection can be used in a remote or in-person learning environment. The teacher can lead the students through the collection or let the students move through the collection on their own. Each section contains a Project Zero Thinking Strategies to be used with the slides that follow. The sections include various forms of art including, gallery art, quilting, informational posters, political posters, event posters and fashion.

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