Elliot Gibbons

Art, Activism and the AIDS Crisis in Britain (1987-1996)’

PhD supervisor: Professor Robert Mills & David Dibosa, Director of Research, Tate (formerly Nathan Ladd, Curator, Contemporary British Art). 
Working title for PhD: ‘Art, Activism and the AIDS Crisis in Britain (1987-1996)’ 

 

a young man smiles at the camera with a wall of artwork behind him

This project will examine art produced in relation to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Britain from 1987 to 1996. The art historian Simon Watney argued that British governmental policies and their collusion with the media infringed upon the representation of AIDS, leading to a ‘crisis of representation’. Indeed, several contemporary British artists sought to address the representation of AIDS through their work. These artists, or their artworks, however, have received very little attention within the canon of British art history. The project seeks to address the lack of attention these artists received by interrogating their place amongst two movements in play at the time: the Black British Arts Movement and the Young British Artists (YBAs). The rise of the YBAs meant that artists who were part of the Black British Arts Movement were obscured by the apolitical zeitgeist at the time. However, the writer Isabel Waidner recently argued that the YBAs also obscured art produced in relation to the AIDS crisis. One aim of the project is to interrogate how these periodisations hinder the canonisation of art produced in reaction to HIV and AIDS in Britain. Section 28, passed in 1988, which prohibited the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools and local governments also hindered the visibility of these artists and artworks. Tate, as a public institution, may have been impacted by such policies and so another question the project will investigate is Tate’s collecting practices and exhibitions at the time amongst other public arts organisations. Additionally, the project will also interrogate how some artworks that displayed explicit activist sensibilities may have been consequently classified as activism rather than artworks. The ways in which some of these artists and artworks actively trouble a clear distinction between these two modalities will be considered as another factor leading to their occlusion.

The PhD is fully funded by the Tate Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Publications:

  • 'The Rosy Glow of Non-Violence: Elliot Gibbons on Hamad Butt at The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin’, Texte Zur Kunst, 2025.
  • ‘It’s Like Arguing with a Brick Wall: Elliot Gibbons on Martin Wong at Camden Arts Centre, London’, Texte Zur Kunst, 2023.
  • ‘Lumen, Sutapa Biswas, Autograph, London, 4 March 2022–4 June 2022’ in Object Journal, 24, 2023.
  • ‘‘Fairy Grotto Bust Up’: On Derek Jarman’s Time’ in Southend’s Twilight Worlds (Southend-on-Sea: The Old Waterworks, 2022), ed. Elliot Gibbons.
  • ‘Tailoring Disidentification: CFGNY dismantles Western notions of ‘Asian-ness’ with their Collecting Dissonance exhibition at London’s Auto Italia’, AQNB, 2021.
  • ‘ “To Dream Effectively”, Focal Point Gallery, 13 September 2020 - 17 January 2021’ thisistomorrow, 2020.

Conference Papers:

  • ‘Ridgeway Bennett’s Abject Abstraction', Art, Visual Culture and HIV/AIDS: Local, Regional and Transnational Perspectives, University of York, Yorkshire, 12- 13th June 2025.
  • ‘Did we find Danny? Art, Archives and Community’, My Evidence: Creating LGBTQI+ Art and Archives, IHLIA LGBT Heritage, Amsterdam, 3rd October 2024.

Awards 

  • 2024-28 Tate Collaborative Doctoral Partnership
  • 2023 Oxford Art Journal for Best Dissertation
  • 2023 UCL Dean’s List Nomination
  • 2022 Arts Council England Project Grant 

Media appearances/outreach work

Curated Exhibitions

  • UK AIDS Memorial Quilt, Tate Modern, 12-16 June 2025.
  • Southend’s Twilight Worlds, Royals Shopping Centre, 16 July to 8 October 2022. 

Contact: elliot.gibbons.21@ucl.ac.uk
Instagram: @elliotgibbons
RPS Profile

Qualifications 
MA History of Art, University College London, 2021-2023 (Distinction)
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art, 2016-19 (First Class Honours) 

External roles
Assistant Curator, Public Programmes (2022 to 2025)