The Space Between Art and Medicine Always has Something to do with Access

Psychiatrist and artist Eric Avery gave a wonderful plenary address at the 2024 Health Humanities Consortium (HHC) Conference in Phoenix. In "Art as Medicine/Medicine as Art" he shared examples of collaborations and solo projects. With ingenuity and compassion Avery has ignited the "space between" medicine and art for decades. Many of his prints, drawings, books, ephemera and arts activist pieces relate to AIDS.    

While listening to his address, I thought about PEPFAR and the 1-year, rather than 5-year renewal that passed with the omnibus funding bill in March. This renewal means we're skating, but skating on thin ice. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has functioned as an international beacon for effective public health funding. It includes access to antiretroviral drugs (ARV). It is essential to keep PEPFAR going strong and to protect it from partisan attacks. 

Learn more about Dr. Avery's work at ericaveryartist.com. Get a refresher about the significance of PEPFAR legislation from Kellie Moss and Jennifer Kates's KFF article "PEPFAR’s Short-Term Reauthorization Sets an Uncertain Course for Its Long-Term Future."

"HIV Condom Piñata & Baby HIV Molded Paper" Woodcut 8.5” Diameter & 4.25" Diameter Edition: Open 1993 & 2015

Part of Dr. Eric Avery's HHC Conference Exhibit at Creighton University Health Sciences Campus