8 ON VIEW: ERIC AVERY: AIDS WORK/STUDENT PERSPECTIVE ON VIEW ERIC AVERY: AIDS WORK AUGUST 12–DECEMBER 11, 2016 ERIC AVERY: AIDS WORK INCLUDED MORE THAN 30 prints and books by Dr. Eric Avery acquired by SCMA and the Mortimer Rare Book Room in 2014. This material represents a cohesive and important body of work that documents three decades in the life of the major public health crisis of AIDS. As an artist, physician and gay man, Avery was at the center of the crisis both personally and professionally. The artworks Avery first created on the subject of AIDS after its initial outbreak in the early 1980s focused on his personal experience with the disease. Later works incorporated medical and policy information on the treatment of AIDS, and also expressed and disseminated vital information about risk factors and protective mea- sures to combat the spread of infection. This desire to inform and inspire change in the world is central to Avery’s view of his purpose as an art- ist: “If you believe that information can lead to change, then bearing witness is the narrative function of art and serves a social purpose. If one person, after seeing one of my art actions, were motivated to change an HIV risk behavior and did not get HIV, then this would be my evidence that art can save lives.” The exhibition was accompanied by a robust roster of public programs, many of them generated by Smith student groups. FACULTY AND STUDENT INPUT WAS INSTRUMENTAL in planning programs for this exhibition. In Spring 2016, faculty from various disciplines gathered with museum staff and the artist himself to look closely at Avery’s artwork, hear from the artist directly and brainstorm programs. This process was repeated with representa- tives from the student organization VOX (now known as Smith Students for Reproductive Justice). Each session sparked interest and led to productive collaborations. This exhibition piqued the interest of the biological sciences department, resulting in multiple class visits from BIO 101: Modern Biology for the Concerned Citizen, BIO 132: Cells Physiology and Development and BIO 334: Bioinformatics and Comparative Molecular Biology; Psychology 240: Colloquium: Health Promotion also took advantage of the material presented. In addition, Avery spoke to a full house for the department’s annual Life Sciences lecture. The artist along with faculty had encouraged a program including immunologist, physician and entre- preneur Anne S. De Groot ‘78, founder, CEO and CFO of EpiVax, Inc. A dialogue between Avery and De Groot about their approaches to activism and advocacy through art and science was presented on World AIDS Day to a standing-room-only audience dominated by students. VOX worked closely with museum staff to develop and implement an early semester afternoon with Eric Avery, who engaged students in an interactive gallery talk followed by artmaking and advocacy. Also presented in relation to World AIDS Day was a screening