Title: One Year Of AZT
Photographer: General Idea
Date: 1991
My first impression of this piece of art work was that it was very unrealistic. To me this photo was unrealistic because in life, medicine pills aren’t that big. When I first viewed this photo, I figured this photo presented a strong message about a type of disease that exists in our world. This photo is very simple because it presents only one focus which is the pills. I see a bunch of pills on the walls and larger pills placed in the centre of the room.
There are many principles and designs in this photo. Some elements include line, texture, space and form. There is a geometric line in this photo. The geometric line is present when you view the small tablets that are closest to you and then create a straight, hard edge line that leads toward the doors. When you feel the tablets, it is very smooth. Even from just looking at the tablets you can tell that the surface of it is smooth, therefore there is a mixture of actual texture and illusory texture in this photo. If you look at both walls that are filled with tablets, you can see that there is a equal amount of space in between them which creates space in the photograph. The pills are in a 3D form since there is a extra dimension of depth added. The principles of designs present in this photo are balance, emphasis, and contrast. If you view this photo, you notice when you split the picture in half it creates a symmetrical balance because, the parts of the picture are equal. The larger pills in the middle also create emphasis. I believe he made bigger pills in the middle to show that even though we think taking those pills everyday isn’t a problem because of their small size, to people who have to take those pills everyday, it feels like trying to take one of those big pills. The photo holds the viewers attention because of the different size of the pills. This makes the viewer wonder why the artist did such a thing, therefore contrast is added in this piece of artwork.
The theme of my artwork is about AIDS ( acquired immune deficiency syndrome ). AIDS is a world wide disease caused by HIV ( human immuodeficiency virus ). This disease effects the immune system and increases the chances of people developing tumours and nasty infections. To be able to get AIDS, a person’s bloodstream has to come in contact with another person’s bodily fluid ( blood, semen , breast milk etc ) containing HIV. The most common way for people to get AIDS today is by oral sex. This artwork is about the amount of AZT ( The Pills ) someone with HIV has to take a year to delay the process of AIDS. I believe this piece of artwork was created to show how hard it is for someone with HIV . Someone with HIV has to take these pills every four hours or prescribed by your doctor otherwise each and everyday. It also may include some side effects as well. Having to do that everyday causes a lot of pain and stress because the pills tend to cause muscle aches and sometimes liver and blood problems. Also the constant reminder of taking the pill every 4 hours is very annoying as well. This photo communicates a emotion of sadness because of what people who have HIV have to go through. I think the artist views the world as a sad and miserable place. I think this photo presenting the idea of people having AIDS is just an example of why they think this world is a sad and a miserable place. Other examples of why they may think the world is sad and miserable is because of violence, child abuse, war, murder etc. General Idea created " One Year Of AZT" to address the AIDS crisis that was happening between 1987 - 1994.
The artists created this piece of work to inform people about AIDS. During the 1987, AIDS wasn’t really big disease and not many people thought too much of it so between 1987 - 1994 , General Idea created many art work including One Year Of AZT to inform the public that its becoming a problem. Sure enough AIDS is a big problem in our society today. My thoughts and feelings for this picture after understanding the artist’s original intent hasn’t changed. The artist intent and my prediction about this photo is very similar. My interpret of the image hasn’t changed as well. From this photo, I learned that having HIV and possibly developing AIDS is very unpleasant judging from the amount of pills you have to take a year and the pain I have to go through of taking them is equivalent to taking one of those big pills. This artwork also taught me to remain abstinent until marriage and not take part in any sexual activity with random people as well. Those people might contain HIV that I am not aware of and I may catch it as well. By catching it, I could be living a really difficult life. This artwork also inspired me to create my artwork in a meaning full way. For example, creating a piece of art that addresses a world issue.
Works Cited
Marsh, James. General Idea. The Canadian Encyclopedia, September 15, 2010
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/
Safra , Jacob. AZT. Encyclopaedia Britannica, September 15, 2010
70 U.S board certified physicians. ZIDOVUDINE. Medicine Net, 1996
Galerie de l’UQAM .General Idea. Science In Art, 2007
