Love and Fury: New York’s Fight against AIDS

Angelina Lippert ’07, Executive Director and Curator, has invited us to return to Poster House for an SCC NYC members-only private tour of “Love and Fury: New York’s Fight against AIDS.”

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, clusters of rare illnesses began appearing among young, otherwise healthy gay men in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Doctors, activists, and affected communities noticed the pattern before public health authorities did.

Initial confusion was compounded by stigma: early names like GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) framed the epidemic through homophobia. In 1982, the CDC officially named the syndrome AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

When AIDS hit New York, posters spoke where institutions stayed silent. They became lifelines—helping people find care, mourn the dead, demand justice, and fight for the living.

This exhibition explores how graphic design shaped New York’s grassroots response to AIDS from 1979 to 2003.

The tour will be led by Leo Murzenko, who recently gave us a tour of The Posters of Peter Strausfeld.

Tickets are $10 and limited to 25 SCC NYC members.

💡 Have questions?
Email us at events@smithclubnyc.com