I met Tessa Boffin in 1988 at an AIDS and Photography meeting at the then London Lesbian and Gay Centre. We decided to collaborate on an exhibiton and book project about AIDS and representation in the UK.

Cover photo: © Rotimi Fani-Kayode & Alex Hirst

"The book and exhibition launched with it represent a powerful exploration of both image and text of the AIDS crisis.

Different voices reveal the profound inadequacies in our attitude to disease. The contributors disrupt the politically-laden mythology of HIV and AIDS, and affirm the persistence of love and desire in the face of death.

More than an interruption to personal life, AIDS has stimulated an erruption in creative life. By wresting control of the imagery of AIDS Ecstatic Antibodies demystifies icons like the nation and the family and illuminates attitudes to gender, sexuality, racial and moral diversity."

The contributors

Emily Andersen
Tessa Boffin
Mehboob Dada
Rotimi Fani-Kayode
Margot Farnham
Nicola Field
Joy Gregory
Sunil Gupta
Lynn Hewett
Alex hirst
Isaac Julien
Stuart Marshall
Roberta McGrath
Mandy Merck
Pratibha Parmar
David Ruffell
Allan deSouza
S R Tobe
Simon Watney
Jeffrey Weeks

Design: John Gibbs

Rivers Oram Press / London 1990

Funded by Arts Council Angland