On December 1, 2003 (World AIDS Day), Sidney-Pacific took part in spreading awareness by hosting an art installation by Jason Deneault, entitled "GRID - 11/91". Below is the artist's statement and pictures of the exhibit.

GRID - 11/91 Jason Deneault

"Being witness to what today is called the AIDS Epidemic - remembering back to the beginning in 1982 when it was called GRID - [Gay Related Immune Disorder] - there was very little understanding of what was happening and not a glimmer of any possible treatment - a dark time of no hope and great fear.

"Now 21 years later this epidemic has become global in its scale - there is no selectivity as to who becomes infected - the concept that this disease is now a treatable chronic illness has lessened any fear and in turn it has diminished the fact that education and awareness are still the most valuable tools we have to stop the spread of this epidemic.

"December 1st is World AIDS Day marking the beginning of AIDS Awareness Month - Initially it began years ago as a Day Without Art - to bring attention to the fact that whole generation of artists were being lost - however art is a very powerful teaching tool in helping to create awareness and understanding and its presence became a vital part of this day of remembrance; which will occur every year until the epidemic is over.

"From the perspective of being a long-term survivor - I use my work to bring awareness to the impact of this epidemic - a reflective eye of a particular time in our histories. When something happens that deeply alters your perceptions, experiences and the pursuit of life; its impact cannot be absent - AIDS is part of my life - this work is a memorial to what has been lost...lest we forget what came before.

"This installation GRID - 11/91 is an outgrowth of an earlier project of 'Paper Prayers' created in 1991 for an annual fundraiser at the Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, to benefit the AIDS Pediatric Unit at Boston Medical Center, now in its fifteenth year. 'Paper Prayers' were created as my reflection on what; at that point, was nine years of living with AIDS - they in turn became the legend for this installation created in 1997 for the VAB Invitational - an art exhibit of work by 6 artists living with AIDS.

"The glass artist Richard Posner has elegantly expressed what I feel about my work: '...serendipity is the mother of invention...form and content are in a perennial wrestling match with one another. It is no coincidence that my formal study of glass coincided with my study of Zen practice. Both are empty vessels to be filled and released like the tide, with public interaction and discourse... My tools are a clean slate, an open mind and a penchant for serendipity'."

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