ABSTRACT
In the spring of 2019, four members of the activist collective What Would an HIV Doula Do? curated an exhibition titled Metanoia (Greek for transformation), initially installed at the New York City LGBT Center. Using a clutch of archival collections held at The Center and ONE Archives in Los Angeles, the exhibition illuminated AIDS activism in terms of incarcerated people living with HIV, centering the vision and activism of women of color. The exhibition’s second venue (at the ONE Archives Foundation’s gallery in West Hollywood) would be its last; as during the run of the exhibition the spread of COVID-19 accelerated in the United States, and forced the closure of the exhibition and its related programming. In this interview three of the four curators speak to the doulas’ process, the aims and meanings of Metanoia, and what taking care of one another looks like in the midst of overlapping pandemics.
