Peter Staley - From Oberlin to ACT UP: My Path to Activism

"The Body, the Host: A Symposium on HIV/AIDS, Christianity, and Art," November 15-16, 2024
Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College
The symposium and related exhibition, "The Body, the Host: HIV/AIDS and Christianity," highlight the role that artists have played in the history of the Church and the outbreak of HIV/AIDS as storytellers and changemakers. In addition to shared motifs, such as Saint Sebastian, plague, martyrdom, and redemption, we see in their works the transformation of suffering and guilt into love and healing. This program is the result of two years of conversations and focus groups with Oberlin College faculty and students, local religious leaders, and AIDS activists. It builds on Oberlin’s history of theological scholarship and AIDS activism and centers the vital role of trans and BIPOC players within those histories.
Organized by the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College and co-sponsored by Oberlin College Art History Department’s Baldwin Lectures Endowment, Oberlin College Dance Department, Office of Alumni Engagement, Office of Gender & Attraction Initiatives (GAI), Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, and First Church in Oberlin.
For more information, visit: httsp://amam.oberlin.edu/body-host