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It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Prize
The story of art collective Gran Fury—which fought back during the AIDS crisis through direct action and community-made propaganda—offers lessons in love and grief.
In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an art collective that called itself Gran Fury formed to campaign against corporate greed, government inaction, stigma, and public indifference to the epidemic.
Writer Jack Lowery examines Gran Fury’s art and activism from iconic images like the “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” poster to the act of dropping piles of fake bills onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Lowery offers a complex, moving portrait of a collective and its members, who built essential solidarities with each other and whose lives evidenced the profound trauma of enduring the AIDS crisis.
Gran Fury and ACT UP’s strategies are still used frequently by the activists leading contemporary movements. In an era when structural violence and the devastation of COVID-19 continue to target the most vulnerable, this belief in the power of public art and action persists.
The story of art collective Gran Fury—which fought back during the AIDS crisis through direct action and community-made propaganda—offers lessons in love and grief.
In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an art collective that called itself Gran Fury formed to campaign against corporate greed, government inaction, stigma, and public indifference to the epidemic.
Writer Jack Lowery examines Gran Fury’s art and activism from iconic images like the “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” poster to the act of dropping piles of fake bills onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Lowery offers a complex, moving portrait of a collective and its members, who built essential solidarities with each other and whose lives evidenced the profound trauma of enduring the AIDS crisis.
Gran Fury and ACT UP’s strategies are still used frequently by the activists leading contemporary movements. In an era when structural violence and the devastation of COVID-19 continue to target the most vulnerable, this belief in the power of public art and action persists.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published April 5, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
August 2, 2022
i want to get a copy of this book and hold it close to my heart and absorb its knowledge. so many useful thoughts and quotes and pieces of valuable history. deep dives and analysis of work by Gran Fury, its artists, and other collectives adjacent to it, ACT UP, and assorted AIDS activists. i was fully invested all the way through to the point that i did in fact almost cry multiple times (which is a feat for someone 5+ years on T)
May 19, 2022
A comprehensive and engrossing history of ACT UP and its affinity groups, It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful provides an unsparing account of the various efforts activists employed to combat government inaction on AIDS during the height of the epidemic. Jack Lowery skillfully blends research with interviews to craft a book that is sure to become canon in AIDS literature. For readers old enough to remember the dark years when AIDS rampaged through the gay community, this book will open old wounds. For those too young to have lived through it, the book will serve as a portal to the past and inspire an appreciation for the struggles their LGBT forbears endured and the sacrifices they made.
The historical parallels between the AIDS epidemic (circa 1981-1995) and our current cultural moment, in which Americans are faced with COVID-19, Trumpism, and the impending overturn of Roe v. Wade, makes the timing of this book's publication perfect. History may not move in a straight line but it often repeats itself. Although the queer community enjoys more freedom, acceptance, and civil liberties now than it ever has before, anti-LGBT legislation is sweeping across the nation, rousing another call to arms. It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful is an historical document and, to me, an elegy. But more important, it is a playbook modern-day activists can use to rally, resist, and disrupt the systems and individuals who seek to destroy us.
Lowery explores every facet of activists' measures to call out Reagan, Bush, and Clinton for their callousness, lack of funding, and for deliberately spreading homophobia and disinformation to the public (sound familiar?). Lowery's access to members of ACT UP and Gran Fury, many of whom are still alive and thriving in the NYC art scene, allows him to weave together years worth of stories, anecdotes, records, archival footage, and interviews to fashion a book that is simultaneously accessible to all readers yet exhibits his prowess as an historian. He gives this period of Queer American history its due, venerating the contributions and sacrifices the queer community made to defend and honor itself, reform public health, alter public opinion about the disease and its victims, and propel the fight for equality into the twenty-first century.
Though several groups worked to fight the AIDS pandemic, Lowery places particular focus on Gran Fury, a collective of eleven artists who created some of the most powerful, lasting works of protest art in modern history. Anyone with a Silence = Death T-shirt can thank them for it. This group of artists took risks and meticulously collaborated, often contentiously, on the many posters that would become hallmarks of the movement. Of particular interest to readers will be the controversy of their Kissing Doesn't Kill poster. The fearlessness and anger of those individuals cannot be overstated. Some of them were sick with HIV/AIDS, and all of them witnessed friends and lovers die from the disease daily. To think that an entire generation of gay men was nearly wiped out due to a political genocide in America seems unconscionable, nevertheless it was activists like Gran Fury who stepped into the fray and brought about the reforms we see today.
Yet Lowery and his interviewees are quick to point out that balanced with the palpable rage of this era was also tremendous love, and that activists need to muster both fierce rage and boundless love to effectively achieve their aims. Not every poster or instillation was successful but each moved the queer community closer to its reckoning with the federal government, the CDC, and pharmaceutical companies. Lowery leaves no topic off limits, and I'm grateful he took lots of time to discuss the issue of women and Black and Brown men who contracted the disease, going so far as to express that even Gran Fury and ACT UP had to reckon with their own sexism, racism, and class bias in terms of responding to the need to represent these members of the community.
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful is an appropriate title for an expansive book that exhibits the brutality of individuals who marshal their bigotry and self-interest to exploit and scapegoat afflicted populations in contrast to those who lavish tremendous love and care upon the sick. That our nation still views illness as a moral judgment, and that our public health system continues to falter, is appalling. The gift of history is our ability to look back on the past and learn from it. Art has tremendous value beyond mere aesthetics, and readers will be all the more grateful for it after reading this phenomenal book.
The historical parallels between the AIDS epidemic (circa 1981-1995) and our current cultural moment, in which Americans are faced with COVID-19, Trumpism, and the impending overturn of Roe v. Wade, makes the timing of this book's publication perfect. History may not move in a straight line but it often repeats itself. Although the queer community enjoys more freedom, acceptance, and civil liberties now than it ever has before, anti-LGBT legislation is sweeping across the nation, rousing another call to arms. It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful is an historical document and, to me, an elegy. But more important, it is a playbook modern-day activists can use to rally, resist, and disrupt the systems and individuals who seek to destroy us.
Lowery explores every facet of activists' measures to call out Reagan, Bush, and Clinton for their callousness, lack of funding, and for deliberately spreading homophobia and disinformation to the public (sound familiar?). Lowery's access to members of ACT UP and Gran Fury, many of whom are still alive and thriving in the NYC art scene, allows him to weave together years worth of stories, anecdotes, records, archival footage, and interviews to fashion a book that is simultaneously accessible to all readers yet exhibits his prowess as an historian. He gives this period of Queer American history its due, venerating the contributions and sacrifices the queer community made to defend and honor itself, reform public health, alter public opinion about the disease and its victims, and propel the fight for equality into the twenty-first century.
Though several groups worked to fight the AIDS pandemic, Lowery places particular focus on Gran Fury, a collective of eleven artists who created some of the most powerful, lasting works of protest art in modern history. Anyone with a Silence = Death T-shirt can thank them for it. This group of artists took risks and meticulously collaborated, often contentiously, on the many posters that would become hallmarks of the movement. Of particular interest to readers will be the controversy of their Kissing Doesn't Kill poster. The fearlessness and anger of those individuals cannot be overstated. Some of them were sick with HIV/AIDS, and all of them witnessed friends and lovers die from the disease daily. To think that an entire generation of gay men was nearly wiped out due to a political genocide in America seems unconscionable, nevertheless it was activists like Gran Fury who stepped into the fray and brought about the reforms we see today.
Yet Lowery and his interviewees are quick to point out that balanced with the palpable rage of this era was also tremendous love, and that activists need to muster both fierce rage and boundless love to effectively achieve their aims. Not every poster or instillation was successful but each moved the queer community closer to its reckoning with the federal government, the CDC, and pharmaceutical companies. Lowery leaves no topic off limits, and I'm grateful he took lots of time to discuss the issue of women and Black and Brown men who contracted the disease, going so far as to express that even Gran Fury and ACT UP had to reckon with their own sexism, racism, and class bias in terms of responding to the need to represent these members of the community.
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful is an appropriate title for an expansive book that exhibits the brutality of individuals who marshal their bigotry and self-interest to exploit and scapegoat afflicted populations in contrast to those who lavish tremendous love and care upon the sick. That our nation still views illness as a moral judgment, and that our public health system continues to falter, is appalling. The gift of history is our ability to look back on the past and learn from it. Art has tremendous value beyond mere aesthetics, and readers will be all the more grateful for it after reading this phenomenal book.
February 8, 2023
As conservative governments across the US have worked to criminalize the act of peacefully protesting, I've become interested in how activist groups historically have used protest to shift perspectives nationwide AND speak to power to change laws and policies. I think that modern protest movements can learn a lot from Act Up and Gran Fury, both in their accomplishments and their failures. Here are some things I was interested to learn:
1.) Your protest will not result in a change in policy unless you are specifically targeting the people and organizations that hold power. In addition, you should have a clear message as to what policy changes you want to see.
2.) The best protest movements are able to do #1 while simultaneously appealing to the public.
3.) A good tagline on an eye-catching poster works. Find a way to distill your message, and make it easy to read!
4.) One idiot acting in bad taste can completely derail an otherwise successful protest.
5.) Getting shit done takes time and dedication. It took Gran Fury and Act Up literally a decade of at least once a week meetings. The members of this organization had complete burnout and PTSD when everything was over, if they survived. You have to be willing to put everything on the line.
6.) At the same time, your cultural moment won't last forever. Be efficient and use your window while you can, because eventually you won't be making headlines anymore.
7.) Efficiency requires a certain amount of exclusivity. Of course you want as many people involved as possible, but some of them need to be the worker bees while others make the decisions.
As I type, I feel like all of this is pretty basic, but when I think about the most sustained protest I've engaged in, we definitely lacked some of those fundamental components. I think I'm the age of social media many of us think that fighting for our rights should be as easy as reading a book or writing a tweet, but it's not. If we want things to change, it's going to take a lot more than that.
In other news, this book was super niche and focused mostly on biography, but I found it to be surprisingly readable. I was engaged the entire time and I didn't want to put it down.
1.) Your protest will not result in a change in policy unless you are specifically targeting the people and organizations that hold power. In addition, you should have a clear message as to what policy changes you want to see.
2.) The best protest movements are able to do #1 while simultaneously appealing to the public.
3.) A good tagline on an eye-catching poster works. Find a way to distill your message, and make it easy to read!
4.) One idiot acting in bad taste can completely derail an otherwise successful protest.
5.) Getting shit done takes time and dedication. It took Gran Fury and Act Up literally a decade of at least once a week meetings. The members of this organization had complete burnout and PTSD when everything was over, if they survived. You have to be willing to put everything on the line.
6.) At the same time, your cultural moment won't last forever. Be efficient and use your window while you can, because eventually you won't be making headlines anymore.
7.) Efficiency requires a certain amount of exclusivity. Of course you want as many people involved as possible, but some of them need to be the worker bees while others make the decisions.
As I type, I feel like all of this is pretty basic, but when I think about the most sustained protest I've engaged in, we definitely lacked some of those fundamental components. I think I'm the age of social media many of us think that fighting for our rights should be as easy as reading a book or writing a tweet, but it's not. If we want things to change, it's going to take a lot more than that.
In other news, this book was super niche and focused mostly on biography, but I found it to be surprisingly readable. I was engaged the entire time and I didn't want to put it down.
August 6, 2022
An oddly dull, overlong read about something very interesting, especially with a title like this! The back half moves more quickly and more elegantly than the first half, which is curious, given that the early years of Gran Fury and the emergence of the activist art-propaganda movement are so fascinating. (Love this quote, from Loring McAlpin: "If you're angry enough and have a Xerox machine and five or six friends who feel the same way, you'd be surprised how far you can go with that.") The author has diligently done his research and his commitment to leaving an accurate account for history is clear. You'll certainly learn a lot about how activism and art work together. The writing gets bogged down, however; it's one of those books full of passages where one sentence could have done the job of the following four.
October 1, 2023
really incredible in its scope. holds both the political factors as well as the interpersonal ones as vital and weighty. its ability to create context—within US politics, within ACT UP, within a friend group—helps the whole thing cohere magnificently.
it’s difficult to conceptualize activism like this. the fact that anything—an apartment, a babysitter—could be found on a telephone pole, so the flyers went there too… what’s the contemporary equivalent? facebook marketplace? it’s also notable that the virus epicenter was also the epicenter of where america got its news (new york city). a perfect storm.
the book opens with offering gran fury’s activism as a template for other movements, with one suggestion being climate change. given the above i find that hard to imagine, but i want it desperately. and i almost want to point it in another direction, that of trans activism. good god, we could stand to have a few shifts of perception in that conversation. what does one do? start writing GENDER PLAY IS HEALTHY AND GOOD on the walls? nonetheless. it’s an awesome book.
it’s difficult to conceptualize activism like this. the fact that anything—an apartment, a babysitter—could be found on a telephone pole, so the flyers went there too… what’s the contemporary equivalent? facebook marketplace? it’s also notable that the virus epicenter was also the epicenter of where america got its news (new york city). a perfect storm.
the book opens with offering gran fury’s activism as a template for other movements, with one suggestion being climate change. given the above i find that hard to imagine, but i want it desperately. and i almost want to point it in another direction, that of trans activism. good god, we could stand to have a few shifts of perception in that conversation. what does one do? start writing GENDER PLAY IS HEALTHY AND GOOD on the walls? nonetheless. it’s an awesome book.
June 23, 2023
finally got around to reviewing this after sitting with it. took me quite literally forever to get through but honestly i don’t think i could’ve read it any other way. such an important insight into the people behind symbols and movements that defined the queer community for so long. they are trailblazers and revolutionaries, but mostly they’re just people who loved each other and their community so fiercely that the only real option was to do something about the inaction. i feel, in quite a weird way, honored to get to read some of, if not the most, vulnerable, raw, human moments from their lives. i admire them and grieve them and appreciate them so deeply, and that was only really possible through this book. read it for the org, read it for the story, read it for the history, read it for the people, just read it.
March 21, 2024
“‘AIDS isn’t over for anybody until it’s over for everybody.’”
What a great book. Very informational and educational while being easy to read and follow. Most of the story is told through interviews with people from the group, making it read like a novel in a way. There are parts of this book that, as you can imagine, are so deeply painful to read.
Definitely one of my favorite books, especially one of my favorite non-fiction books.
What a great book. Very informational and educational while being easy to read and follow. Most of the story is told through interviews with people from the group, making it read like a novel in a way. There are parts of this book that, as you can imagine, are so deeply painful to read.
Definitely one of my favorite books, especially one of my favorite non-fiction books.
December 7, 2022
5/5!!!
maybe the most special book i’ve read this year, telling the story of gran fury, an art collective founded in the chaos of the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. jack lowery does something intensely meaningful: relating gran fury’s legacy while still portraying its art as collective and charged, a set of living things that still have things to do and say.
lowery’s tone, rhythm, and precision are impeccable, but such an emotionally raw story like the one of gran fury practically stands on its own. lowery, like the ACT UP activists he interviewed, is punchy and biting. after all, the stories he relates are in their truest sense about life and death — there’s hardly any time for wasted sentimentality. yet i audibly laughed and cried while reading “it was vulgar and it was beautiful,” emotions that, just like gran fury’s products, did not passively exist, but rather, inspired action.
maybe the most special book i’ve read this year, telling the story of gran fury, an art collective founded in the chaos of the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. jack lowery does something intensely meaningful: relating gran fury’s legacy while still portraying its art as collective and charged, a set of living things that still have things to do and say.
lowery’s tone, rhythm, and precision are impeccable, but such an emotionally raw story like the one of gran fury practically stands on its own. lowery, like the ACT UP activists he interviewed, is punchy and biting. after all, the stories he relates are in their truest sense about life and death — there’s hardly any time for wasted sentimentality. yet i audibly laughed and cried while reading “it was vulgar and it was beautiful,” emotions that, just like gran fury’s products, did not passively exist, but rather, inspired action.
August 31, 2022
This was informative, heartbreaking, and just overall such an impactful and amazing read. It was put together and written so well. I learned so much about the AIDS pandemic and I loved reading about the passion that Gran Fury had and I was invested in their art and demonstrations. I sympathize now more than I ever did with the people who suffered, and still suffer living with AIDS. The emotionally taxing job it must be to have to live during that time watching your loved ones die in quick succession. I have no clue how that feels and I hope I never have to experience that. I loved this book and I only have a few words to truly sum it up. It was vulgar and it was beautiful.
December 19, 2022
With the current wave of anti LGBTQIA+ rhetoric, I find myself wanting a militant, disruptive group that will stage actions against those pandering hate. So I find myself reading more and more about ACT UP and the bravery of its members.
This book focuses on the artwork--both the hits and the misses--and the personalities behind them.
This book focuses on the artwork--both the hits and the misses--and the personalities behind them.
January 10, 2024
Stunning in scope. So difficult to be this comprehensive and never lose context
July 30, 2022
a really favorite book’ I’ll read it again. So inspiring and affirming re what the right words—few as possible, readable at 30 mph and 30 ft—can do. Sad towatds the end when the aids deaths starT to stack up again, but hang on, the end is affirming and true. Really a great book and history
July 22, 2022
Bold, emphatic, and resourceful are the words I'd use to describe Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful. Much like the NYC art movement that trickled outward and westward, this book is simultaneously a love letter to the men who struggled and worked and succeeded amid the Reagan administration as well as a resource for future historians who want to hear directly from these men in their own words.
Up front, I will be honest in saying this is unlike any other nonfiction book I've read, in that the resource/bibliography consists almost entirely of one-on-one conversations/interviews Lowery performed with the key players in ACT UP and Gran Fury's movements. My academic self finds concern, as there aren't really any additional resources listed to corroborate these interviews, but my who-defines-knowledge self finds only intrigue--after all, who's to say that just because it hasn't been recorded before or corroborated with secondary sources means the information is invalid?
I loved the formatting of the book as well, in addition to the inclusion of the (sometimes sexually graphic) graphic designs. It's an inspiring book, and one that left me longing for a different version of New York City while being thankful that we've come as far as we have.
Up front, I will be honest in saying this is unlike any other nonfiction book I've read, in that the resource/bibliography consists almost entirely of one-on-one conversations/interviews Lowery performed with the key players in ACT UP and Gran Fury's movements. My academic self finds concern, as there aren't really any additional resources listed to corroborate these interviews, but my who-defines-knowledge self finds only intrigue--after all, who's to say that just because it hasn't been recorded before or corroborated with secondary sources means the information is invalid?
I loved the formatting of the book as well, in addition to the inclusion of the (sometimes sexually graphic) graphic designs. It's an inspiring book, and one that left me longing for a different version of New York City while being thankful that we've come as far as we have.
June 25, 2022
Since discovering my interest in the history of the AIDS epidemic during the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been on the hunt for fresh reading material. A friend recommended this book to me, which specifically focuses on AIDS activism and the use of art as a medium for that activism. This book was refreshing because it not only honored what worked, but it also showcased the failures. As a present day activist, I learned a lot of lessons about how to engage effectively. I also learned new information about the AIDS epidemic and its impact on women, which was fascinating yet infuriating.
I was impressed by the author's ability to weave such a detailed story out of relatively scant primary source materials. However, the book was a bit all over the place at times and could have used better editing. I persisted because of the depth of my interest in the topic, but I fear that someone new to the subject may have trouble following the narrative.
I was impressed by the author's ability to weave such a detailed story out of relatively scant primary source materials. However, the book was a bit all over the place at times and could have used better editing. I persisted because of the depth of my interest in the topic, but I fear that someone new to the subject may have trouble following the narrative.
March 31, 2022
A fascinating and important story, and a good entry point for a lot of other reading and research into the AIDs crisis, ACT UP, and Gran Fury. A thorough but very engaging read—I finished it in record time for non-fiction, which I usually struggle to get through.
July 20, 2022
This is a history of public art (mainly posters with some window displays and performance pieces) used to fight AIDS, with most of the work done by a subgroup of ACT UP New York called Gran Fury, although the piece I was most familiar with, SILENCE = DEATH, predates that collective.
It's a detailed history with a strong focus on the personal stories of the primary creators in Gran Fury. So, for example, once Lowery focuses on an artist, you get a lot about their connections with ACT UP, their identity as HIV-negative or -positive, and the community around them. There's also a lot I learned about ACT UP in general, especially with regards to their work on redefining the AIDS definition for women (a famous Gran Fury poster states "Women Don't Get AIDS; They Just Die From It") and the use of political funerals in the early 90's.
What I appreciated most about the writing is how Lowery described how the needs of the gay community in New York drove the creation of Gran Fury's pieces. There's a piece at the end where Lowery visits Gran Fury posters hanging in galleries, and it's a sad moment --- you can't understand the art without the context around it, especially when the context includes thousands of deaths and the anger than drove ACT UP. In some sense, the pieces only work as posters in marches, images pasted up at construction sites, or advertisements at bus stops; without the public nature of the work and its insistence on changing public policy, the images lose their meaning.
Lowery every now and again discusses the very argumentative Gran Fury meetings, and I wish there was more of that content in the book. Very early on in the introduction, Lowery commits to a less philosophical and more illustrative approach, and yet he describes the collective arguing about fonts and statements and images, and I wanted to see more of that personal philosophy expressed by the Gran Fury members. I also got lost in the very large cast of characters from time to time.
Highly recommended if you have interest in the civic and propaganda uses of public art.
It's a detailed history with a strong focus on the personal stories of the primary creators in Gran Fury. So, for example, once Lowery focuses on an artist, you get a lot about their connections with ACT UP, their identity as HIV-negative or -positive, and the community around them. There's also a lot I learned about ACT UP in general, especially with regards to their work on redefining the AIDS definition for women (a famous Gran Fury poster states "Women Don't Get AIDS; They Just Die From It") and the use of political funerals in the early 90's.
What I appreciated most about the writing is how Lowery described how the needs of the gay community in New York drove the creation of Gran Fury's pieces. There's a piece at the end where Lowery visits Gran Fury posters hanging in galleries, and it's a sad moment --- you can't understand the art without the context around it, especially when the context includes thousands of deaths and the anger than drove ACT UP. In some sense, the pieces only work as posters in marches, images pasted up at construction sites, or advertisements at bus stops; without the public nature of the work and its insistence on changing public policy, the images lose their meaning.
Lowery every now and again discusses the very argumentative Gran Fury meetings, and I wish there was more of that content in the book. Very early on in the introduction, Lowery commits to a less philosophical and more illustrative approach, and yet he describes the collective arguing about fonts and statements and images, and I wanted to see more of that personal philosophy expressed by the Gran Fury members. I also got lost in the very large cast of characters from time to time.
Highly recommended if you have interest in the civic and propaganda uses of public art.
February 15, 2023
I've read a lot about ACT UP in recent years, so some of my feelings about this book are definitely colored by that. I knew I would likely come across a lot of content I was already familiar with, but I hoped the specific focus on Gran Fury would bring enough new stuff to override that. I studied communication in college, and art as a tool for protest is a definite area of interest. Overall, though, I don't think Gran Fury can be understood without the context of ACT UP, and this book provides that, but other books have provided it before and better (for me). The Gran Fury information is interesting, and I loved seeing the art and hearing about the discussions surrounding it, but that was a relatively small part of the book. The writing style also put me off a bit. It felt at times like an especially well-written piece for an academic setting or like a professor's lecture. That's not necessarily bad (and I did see that the author is a professor), but it didn't result in something that kept me as engaged as other books on similar topics have.
February 6, 2023
It’s going to be hard for any book I read in 2023 to top this one.
Jack Lowery does such a great job of chronicling the timeline of two key activist groups during the height of the AIDS crisis, ACT UP and Grand Fury. This book is full of so much research and really gives you the full scope of these two organizations and how they worked together. Lowery not only provides the history of these organizations. He outlines the effectiveness of Grand Fury’s work, both at the time of creation and longterm.
This is one of those books that I think every single person should read. Following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so much of the activism and backlash discussed in this book feels so near.
Jack Lowery does such a great job of chronicling the timeline of two key activist groups during the height of the AIDS crisis, ACT UP and Grand Fury. This book is full of so much research and really gives you the full scope of these two organizations and how they worked together. Lowery not only provides the history of these organizations. He outlines the effectiveness of Grand Fury’s work, both at the time of creation and longterm.
This is one of those books that I think every single person should read. Following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so much of the activism and backlash discussed in this book feels so near.
February 8, 2023
This was often compelling and sometimes made me cry.
In 2016, I wrote a piece about how AIDS activism could inform the response to the election of Donald Trump (https://nursingclio.org/2017/01/19/si...). I am struck how, in the midst of my despair, I also had hope when I wrote this, a hope that has since been tempered.
AIDS activism can also tell us the story that has lived out since 2016, about exhaustion and fracture and failure amid the successes.
Lowery's book is an important addition to the growing literature, fiction and nonfiction, of activist responses to an epidemic.
In 2016, I wrote a piece about how AIDS activism could inform the response to the election of Donald Trump (https://nursingclio.org/2017/01/19/si...). I am struck how, in the midst of my despair, I also had hope when I wrote this, a hope that has since been tempered.
AIDS activism can also tell us the story that has lived out since 2016, about exhaustion and fracture and failure amid the successes.
Lowery's book is an important addition to the growing literature, fiction and nonfiction, of activist responses to an epidemic.
October 26, 2022
I have been getting more into reading about queer history recently and this is a book I would recommend to anyone else looking to learn.
April 15, 2024
Written so many years later, there is still a feeling of immediacy. Structuring the narrative along the various projects also makes sense, and help keeps a feeling of coherence even as there are lots of people involved, and many of them not well know.
Also written with a lot of empathy and understanding.
Also written with a lot of empathy and understanding.
July 26, 2022
I wish I could give this more than 5 stars
October 15, 2022
At some point I should compile a list of books I’ve read this year that have (nearly) made me cry in public. The sheer amount of loss described is hard to fully take in.
May 28, 2022
Oh, another book on ACT UP? Yeah but there’s more stuff in here that I have not learned about yet. These books being published and written during the COVID-19 pandemic is not coincidence, the researchers are using the pandemic/events during the pandemic to relate to other health crises such as AIDS as well as the civil unrest as a way to bridge a connection with the old generation and the new
March 10, 2022
Thanks to Bold Type Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful details the activity and activism of Gran Fury, an art collective formed to fight back during the AIDS crisis. This book gets into the details of membership, relationships, and the art created by this group. I found it so interesting, but of course heartbreaking. It's devastating to read about people fighting so, so hard for treatments and cures from governments and doctors who didn't care enough to make it happen. It's also heartbreaking to read about members testing positive and slowly succumbing to disease.
While this book could slow down at times, it really encompassed the activity of this group and taught me a lot. Some of the art I'd seen, some of the members I'd heard about, but is such a good comprehensive look. I'm so glad I read it.
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful details the activity and activism of Gran Fury, an art collective formed to fight back during the AIDS crisis. This book gets into the details of membership, relationships, and the art created by this group. I found it so interesting, but of course heartbreaking. It's devastating to read about people fighting so, so hard for treatments and cures from governments and doctors who didn't care enough to make it happen. It's also heartbreaking to read about members testing positive and slowly succumbing to disease.
While this book could slow down at times, it really encompassed the activity of this group and taught me a lot. Some of the art I'd seen, some of the members I'd heard about, but is such a good comprehensive look. I'm so glad I read it.
June 22, 2023
Very interesting, I learned so much about things I had seen during this period and didn't know how they came about. It is a good read that is not difficult to read but is long.
July 12, 2022
“It was brutal,” recalled McCarty. “But we had such a good time. It was a horrific time. But there was also joy and sexiness. It was special.”
i am truly rendered speechless. not only is this a comprehensive and incredibly in depth dive into gran fury, but it’s a look into the lives that were lived and lost during the aids epidemic in new york.
there is a lot that we as people in 2022 could learn from those who participated and built ACT UP.
this book was so incredibly well written, with pictures and interviews and sources that all just tied this book together perfectly.
i don’t know what to say other than to read this- it should shift your perspective on the aids crisis, just like the work of gran fury did.
i am truly rendered speechless. not only is this a comprehensive and incredibly in depth dive into gran fury, but it’s a look into the lives that were lived and lost during the aids epidemic in new york.
there is a lot that we as people in 2022 could learn from those who participated and built ACT UP.
this book was so incredibly well written, with pictures and interviews and sources that all just tied this book together perfectly.
i don’t know what to say other than to read this- it should shift your perspective on the aids crisis, just like the work of gran fury did.
June 11, 2022
I really loved some of the iconic Gran Fury images; they were powerful components of my socio-political coming of age in the late 80s/early 90s. The inner workings of the collective have mostly been a mystery to me. It's great to have this book fill in the gaps, and learn about the complex personalities, friendships and relationships that produced this work.
I was at an event for the book recently. The author mentioned what struck him while doing the research was how most of the ACTUP actions would not be possible today, with post-9/11 security and surveillance.
There are many jaw-dropping quotes from callous to downright malicious bureaucrats and politicians. I'm familiar with the quotes from when they were first reported, but revisiting them today is still a shocking experience.
I was at an event for the book recently. The author mentioned what struck him while doing the research was how most of the ACTUP actions would not be possible today, with post-9/11 security and surveillance.
There are many jaw-dropping quotes from callous to downright malicious bureaucrats and politicians. I'm familiar with the quotes from when they were first reported, but revisiting them today is still a shocking experience.
October 18, 2023
Thank you, NetGalley, for granting me a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic chronicles the work of Gran Fury, the fleeting AIDS advocacy group best known for coining the slogan Silence = Death. Jack Lowery takes the time to introduce us to each of the eleven main members of the group, and details the brainstorming and promotion of each piece they published before ultimately dissolving after years of infighting. The parts I enjoyed the most were when we learned about how people were coping with the disease itself, but that was secondary to the focus on Gran Fury's work.
If The Normal Heart was compatible with And The Band Plays On, then It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful overlaps most with How to Survive a Plague (although Larry Kramer is featured in all of them). Beginning in the late-80s, It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful expresses none of the sympathy for healthcare workers and scientists that Randy Shilts' doorstopper did, and takes a particularly harsh view of the government. This is all understandable, but it does create a certain tunnel vision within the book (for instance, why doesn't anyone ever mention the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which happened while Gran Fury was in operation?).
There are few women mentioned, although at least one of Gran Fury's projects directly addressed raising AIDS awareness for women. Much like How to Survive a Plague, the men of this story are very sympathetic, but not always particularly likable. Lowery does lampshade some of the more obvious critiques a modern person would have reading this book, mainly that these were all very entitled men who led extremely privileged lives prior to the AIDS crisis (i.e. they didn't have to worry about pregnancy or the other issues women associate with sex). Yet this is all cursory, and there's still a certain disconnect from how men would approach this crisis versus a woman that the author doesn't seem to register. While Gran Fury is in full agreement from the beginning that gay men need to practice safe sex (something which was much more controversial during the earliest years of the pandemic), they place the full responsibility of the pandemic on other institutions' inaction. This was a stark reminder of how different men's lives are from women's, who, regardless of it's unwarranted, are socialized to self-reflect and shoulder at least some of the blame for their past decisions. Perhaps there was more of this sentiment going around and Lowery was afraid that including it would be perceived as victim-blaming (both And the Band Played On and The Normal Heart discuss gay men's feelings of guilt and shame, for instance), but it was still a curious omission. I have a hard time believing that none of these men experienced any regret. (There's also the slogan All People with AIDS are Innocent. Does that include rapists? Did anyone ever bring that up?).
Nevertheless, It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful is a good resource for a portion of history that is often overlooked, while also being fluid enough to function as a recreational read. I am glad that I read it, even if I often felt disconnected from the central characters.
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic chronicles the work of Gran Fury, the fleeting AIDS advocacy group best known for coining the slogan Silence = Death. Jack Lowery takes the time to introduce us to each of the eleven main members of the group, and details the brainstorming and promotion of each piece they published before ultimately dissolving after years of infighting. The parts I enjoyed the most were when we learned about how people were coping with the disease itself, but that was secondary to the focus on Gran Fury's work.
If The Normal Heart was compatible with And The Band Plays On, then It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful overlaps most with How to Survive a Plague (although Larry Kramer is featured in all of them). Beginning in the late-80s, It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful expresses none of the sympathy for healthcare workers and scientists that Randy Shilts' doorstopper did, and takes a particularly harsh view of the government. This is all understandable, but it does create a certain tunnel vision within the book (for instance, why doesn't anyone ever mention the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which happened while Gran Fury was in operation?).
There are few women mentioned, although at least one of Gran Fury's projects directly addressed raising AIDS awareness for women. Much like How to Survive a Plague, the men of this story are very sympathetic, but not always particularly likable. Lowery does lampshade some of the more obvious critiques a modern person would have reading this book, mainly that these were all very entitled men who led extremely privileged lives prior to the AIDS crisis (i.e. they didn't have to worry about pregnancy or the other issues women associate with sex). Yet this is all cursory, and there's still a certain disconnect from how men would approach this crisis versus a woman that the author doesn't seem to register. While Gran Fury is in full agreement from the beginning that gay men need to practice safe sex (something which was much more controversial during the earliest years of the pandemic), they place the full responsibility of the pandemic on other institutions' inaction. This was a stark reminder of how different men's lives are from women's, who, regardless of it's unwarranted, are socialized to self-reflect and shoulder at least some of the blame for their past decisions. Perhaps there was more of this sentiment going around and Lowery was afraid that including it would be perceived as victim-blaming (both And the Band Played On and The Normal Heart discuss gay men's feelings of guilt and shame, for instance), but it was still a curious omission. I have a hard time believing that none of these men experienced any regret. (There's also the slogan All People with AIDS are Innocent. Does that include rapists? Did anyone ever bring that up?).
Nevertheless, It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful is a good resource for a portion of history that is often overlooked, while also being fluid enough to function as a recreational read. I am glad that I read it, even if I often felt disconnected from the central characters.
May 7, 2022
4.5 ★
This is an absolutely great reference if you need an understanding of both the actual creative process behind the work of key AIDS propagandists, as well as a look at the personal relationships within the group. Or, if you are like me, a great read to get very angry, sad, and connected to queer history.
This book deserves a lot. For one, it deserves a reviewer that is not just an older angry queer teen sitting in their bed below a 'Pits and Perverts' poster they printed at an Office Depot 3 towns over, desperately trying to cover their face the whole time. But since I inexplicably am the way I am I'll give it a decent shot.
First, this topic is very personal to me. I was born and raised in diverse, poor, pockets of the southwest wherein one neighborhood people live with AIDS and live the rest of their life normally and in peace, and in the next streets will be crowded with poor folks slowly dying because they can't afford treatment. This doesn't even speak to the fact that the trauma of being a "post"-AIDS queer has been incredibly damaging. I remember first learning about what the government did (or, technically didn't) do to us. I just got so fucking angry. I don't think that anger ever went away either. I'm angry that the stories of the people we lost are stuck back in time where I can't just drag them back into a world with treatments. I am angry that a whole generation died and that we lost so many beautiful people. We lost large, essential chunks of our community because they just wouldn't listen.
This book is excellent in its recounting of not only history but the people behind the history as well. We follow the history of Gran Fury and related art/propagandist organizations. As time passes, the reader follows as members branch away and form new groups, as groups morph into something new, and as people die of the same disease they fight to make seen. This author has taken extreme care to show the person behind each movement/action. I loved hearing some of the jokes these larger-than-life people had between each other because they are so similar to the jokes I share with my queer friends.
My personal favorite section was Act 3, Chapter 11. The unapologetic presence and weaponization of death speaks to me so much. A lot of the narration throughout this book allows for the actual historical events to take the spotlight, but in this section, I thought the writing was beautiful. I love how the author consciously chose not to end the story with the political funerals, instead of detailing what comes after the fight has fizzled out- after the height of AIDS activism.
This is an absolutely great reference if you need an understanding of both the actual creative process behind the work of key AIDS propagandists, as well as a look at the personal relationships within the group. Or, if you are like me, a great read to get very angry, sad, and connected to queer history.
This book deserves a lot. For one, it deserves a reviewer that is not just an older angry queer teen sitting in their bed below a 'Pits and Perverts' poster they printed at an Office Depot 3 towns over, desperately trying to cover their face the whole time. But since I inexplicably am the way I am I'll give it a decent shot.
First, this topic is very personal to me. I was born and raised in diverse, poor, pockets of the southwest wherein one neighborhood people live with AIDS and live the rest of their life normally and in peace, and in the next streets will be crowded with poor folks slowly dying because they can't afford treatment. This doesn't even speak to the fact that the trauma of being a "post"-AIDS queer has been incredibly damaging. I remember first learning about what the government did (or, technically didn't) do to us. I just got so fucking angry. I don't think that anger ever went away either. I'm angry that the stories of the people we lost are stuck back in time where I can't just drag them back into a world with treatments. I am angry that a whole generation died and that we lost so many beautiful people. We lost large, essential chunks of our community because they just wouldn't listen.
This book is excellent in its recounting of not only history but the people behind the history as well. We follow the history of Gran Fury and related art/propagandist organizations. As time passes, the reader follows as members branch away and form new groups, as groups morph into something new, and as people die of the same disease they fight to make seen. This author has taken extreme care to show the person behind each movement/action. I loved hearing some of the jokes these larger-than-life people had between each other because they are so similar to the jokes I share with my queer friends.
My personal favorite section was Act 3, Chapter 11. The unapologetic presence and weaponization of death speaks to me so much. A lot of the narration throughout this book allows for the actual historical events to take the spotlight, but in this section, I thought the writing was beautiful. I love how the author consciously chose not to end the story with the political funerals, instead of detailing what comes after the fight has fizzled out- after the height of AIDS activism.
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