Several years ago I started photographing friends, and friends of friends, wearing a pair of 1970s vintage blue sunglasses that had belonged to a performance artist friend who had died of AIDS.  I had been the custodian of these glasses for over a decade, yet their somewhat overt style had made me hesitant to don them for any sort of daily sartorial function.  I wanted to put them to use, though.  And they had such a glamor to them that fun was created whenever they came out.  It was like a dress-up game.  So why not let others wear them, get their glam on, and me photograph them in the process?  A project was initiated, and can be viewed on its own website, bluesunglassesproject.org.

The photos have had a life of their own, having been exhibited in various venues on the east & west US coasts.  The project is in a temporary halt as I struggle to reproduce these vintage frames which have, not surprisingly, deteriorated with age (i.e. cracked in too many places to mend.)  But although I cannot at this time continue to photograph faces decked in those blue lenses, I am thrilled to be able to carry on the project’s spirit by recording the links between the AIDS epidemic and the cultural response.  On this blog I’ll be reporting any events or actions occurring within the arts, and popular culture in general, that are a channel for awareness of the continued global AIDS epidemic.