An AIDS Memorial in London by Anya Gallaccio (2024)

Video (2:19): Our shortlist – Anya Gallaccio, a video by The AIDS Memorial In London. Anya Gallaccio talks about the process of making the memorial. The winner was revealed in June 2024.

London will get a sculpture of a Tree of life to remember the people in the capital who died from AIDS. Designed by British artist Anya Gallaccio, the ‘giant symbol of life’ will stand on South Crescent, Store Street, in Fitzrovia.

About Anya Gallaccio

Anya Gallaccio (born 1963) is a British artist and queer woman who creates site-specific, minimalist installations and often works with organic matter. She sometimes re-creates works. Her most well-known work Red on Green was originally made for her first solo showing in a public gallery, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in 1992. It was then recreated ten years later for the exhibition Blast to Freeze: British Art in the 20th Century mounted by Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg in 2002 – 2003 and for the 2004 British Council exhibition Turning Points: 20th Century British Sculpture. In 2003, Gallaccio was shortlisted for the Turner Prize alongside Grayson Perry, Jake and Dinos Chapman and Willie Doherty. Since then she has exhibited her site-specific installation both in England, the USA and in some European countries. Her work challenges the traditional notion that an art object or sculpture should essentially be a monument within a museum or gallery. Instead her work often lives through the memory of those that saw and experienced it – or the concept of the artwork itself.

Why do we need an AIDS Memorial in London?

Video (2:19): Why do we need an AIDS Memorial in London? Director, Writer, Performer and AIDS Memorial judge Neil Bartlett shares his thoughts.

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