W MAGAZINE: The Story Behind Silence=Death, an Icon of the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement

Few graphics are as instantly recognizable as the “Silence=Death” poster created in 1986 by the American artist Avram Finkelstein and the Silence=Death Collective. The piece was designed as an urgent response to the AIDS epidemic and ensuing political fallout of the time—yet, amid the current social and political realities of the world, along with continued efforts for equal rights of the LGBTQ+ community and the approximately 38 million people worldwide still living with HIV, those simple yet piercing words feel especially necessary now. Speaking at NADA New York in early May with executive director of the NYC AIDS Memorial organization Dave Harper, Finkelstein recalled the conception of the poster and its subsequent meaning almost 40 years later.