In the heart of Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, an arts district full of cocktail bars and Zoomers juggling their coffee, texts, and diamond-studded leashes for their tiny dogs, sits R House. R House, a favorite neighborhood drag venue partnered with the non-profit AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), to join Miami’s Art Basel by hosting “Art as Activism,” a pop-up installation about the psychological stages of processing an HIV/AIDS diagnosis.

Invited artists 

Curator Warren Brand, of Branded Arts, brought together six artists: Emma Hac, Hiero Veiga, Sam Kirk, Bikismo, Antonyo Marest, and Madison’s much-loved Transpainter, Rae Senarighi, for a collaborative exhibition from December 4 through 11 during Miami’s Art Week. Each artist took over a small room within a large yellow tent in R House’s outdoor space. The resulting multiroom exhibition created a journey through various reactions and stages of processing an HIV diagnosis from crisis to acceptance and adaptation.

Arts as Activism 

Amid hundreds of installations included in Art Basel, this unique temporary installation was actually given a shout out in Forbes. When my friend, Edgewood Assistant Professor of Art History Sarah Stolte, and I emerged from our ride to R House, the music was already pulsing, and a bouncer was guiding us into “Arts as Activism” rather than the packed drag brunch. The joyous energy of that brunch became the perfect soundtrack for an installation about health, identity, and community. It was as if the “Art as Activism” at R House was celebrating that HIV/AIDS is no longer talked about in hushed whispers but is now in open dialogue with community support.

The continuum of a diagnosis journey 

The six-room structure could have felt didactic or overly literal in less skilled hands. Instead, each space flowed into the next, creating a narrative arc that felt both personal and universal. The artists created a delicate balance—being both specific enough to honor the experiences of those directly affected by HIV/AIDS while remaining accessible enough to draw in viewers who may be less familiar with these realities.

The beauty of Brand’s selection of several different artists to create their own intimate, contemplative spaces, is that the resulting installations represented the disparate inner dialogs characteristic of moving through a life-altering health crisis. And though Senarighi, who was likely selected because of his reputation for painting vibrant celebrations of trans identity, has never experienced receiving an HIV diagnosis, he has lived through cancer. His survivor’s journey informed his understanding of processing a life-threatening illness and navigating the emotional terrain that goes along with that diagnosis.

Self-talk and Self-reflection 

Senarighi transformed the space he was given, which was to be about what one says to themselves regarding an HIV/AIDS diagnosis, into a sanctuary of affirmation and hope. Rae navigated and survived cancer, at least in part, by cultivating a strong gratitude practice and adjusting from a mindset of inner criticism to a commitment to self-love.

On one wall, a strategically placed mirror invited self-reflection. It was framed by empowering messages. “YOU ARE” above it, and to the left of the mirror, the word, “WORTHY” and to the right, the word “LOVED” and beneath it, “SACRED” and beneath that, in smaller writing, “RIGHT NOW. IN THIS MOMENT.”

On the opposite wall, a chalkboard became a living document of audience engagement where Senarighi created a place for visitors to craft their own affirmations, and they did. Statements such as, “My Voice is Powerful,” “Be true to yourself always,” and “Stop caring what people think about you” were handwritten all over the wall.

Affirmations to go 

Like a float in a Pride parade turned in on itself, every other remaining surface of the room was festooned with flowers. Free cards bearing messages of self-worth—“You are Beautiful,” “You are Inherently Worthy,” and “You are Enough” on one side and “You are Loved” on the other side—offered reminders for visitors to carry with them, extending the installation’s impact beyond its temporary walls.

The timing of “Art as Activism” during Art Basel, when the high rollers of the art world party and purchase in spaces of tension between consumerism and social critique, added another layer of complexity. Here amid the joy-filled ambience of a champagne drag brunch, on top of a backdrop of an even larger party-like atmosphere taking place city-wide, is a space for reflection. AHF, R House, Branded Arts, and the invited artists offered a reminder that art does not only serve an elite population for the purpose of hyper-consumerism, art is a force that can change the world and can foster understanding, empathy, and even self-worth.