“Global AIDS Posters and the Visual Language of Horror” is an examination of how the AIDS crisis was communicated through visual culture and how the imagery was often based on a rhetoric of horror. Global aids posters and the language used to describe the epidemic, though well-intended, worked together to shape a public perception that was harmful to the AIDS patient during this time of uncertainty.
In the case of the language used to describe the epidemic, the slide deck includes data showing that newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, often referred to as newspapers of record, repeatedly used terms such as “plague,” “silent killer,” and “scourge” at the height of the crisis. Over time, this rhetoric influenced and became part of a larger visual and cultural dialogue that determined how AIDS was depicted in posters around the world. As amply demonstrated in the slide deck, many of these posters used skeletal forms, dark imagery, or metaphors tied to death, decay, contamination, and contagion, which are all widely used horror tropes. These tropes, it is assumed, were meant to communicate urgency, but the reality is that they also risked reinforcing harmful ideas about those living with the disease. In other words, the visual culture emphasized the horror of the patient more than it prevented the spread of the disease.
The rhetoric of horror and fear-based messaging was not accidental. As has occurred in previous widespread outbreaks of disease, during moments when people are trying to make sense of something they do not fully comprehend, horror provides a familiar framework within which to discuss, communicate, and address the disease. However, this sometimes comes at a cost. The slide deck, hopefully, indicates that there is always a tension between raising awareness and contributing to stigma. In other words, public health messaging cannot help but be shaped by cultural habits and visual traditions, not just neutral medical facts. These posters may perhaps encourage us to think more carefully about how images and rhetoric affect perception, especially during moments of crisis.
