Name/Title
(1987) ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), AIDSGATE Poster, New YorkDescription
ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), AIDS GATE, 1987
Political advocacy poster
Publisher: ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power)
Country: United States
Offset lithograph on paper
This poster was produced by ACT UP in 1987 and features a high-contrast portrait of President Ronald Reagan rendered in fluorescent yellow and black, with the word “AIDSGATE” printed diagonally across the image in bold pink lettering. The design invokes the language of the Watergate political scandal, reframing the federal government’s response to the AIDS epidemic as a matter of political accountability rather than solely medical crisis.
Text at the bottom of the poster reads: “This Political Scandal Must Be Investigated!” and includes statistics regarding the impact of AIDS in New York City, references to racial disparities, women’s mortality, and projected national death tolls. The poster concludes with the statement “SILENCE = DEATH,” linking the image directly to the broader visual and rhetorical framework of AIDS activism in the late 1980s.
Produced during a period of escalating activist confrontation with federal health agencies and the Reagan administration, the poster reflects ACT UP’s strategy of direct political critique. Its fluorescent palette, bold typography, and simplified composition were designed for rapid reproduction and public visibility, often through wheat-pasting and street distribution. By equating governmental inaction with scandal, the work situates AIDS within a discourse of state responsibility and civil rights.
Surviving examples document the role of graphic intervention in shaping public discourse during the height of the AIDS crisis. This example is an unpasted print.
Provenance: Chisholm Larsson Gallery, New York
Condition: Very goodCreate Date
July 29, 2025Update Date
October 15, 2026