Yesterday London Underground (known locally as ‘the Tube’) unveiled a stunning series of artworks by the late Australian artist/LGBT activist David McDiarmid that reference the AIDS Crisis.  

McDiarmid who died aged 43 in 1995  was known for his Rainbow Aphorisms that he produced in response to his own, and his community’s, experience of the AIDS crisis, and the multiple forms of devastations it manifests –political, emotional, intellectual and medical.

“I wanted to express myself and I wanted to respond to what was going on and I wanted to reach a gay male audience. I wanted to express very complex emotions and I didn’t know how to do it … I was in a bit of a dilemma. I thought, well, how can I get across these complex messages. I didn’t think it was simply a matter of saying gay is good.” – David McDiarmid, 1992.

The project has been mounted by Art on the Underground in partnership with Studio Voltaire and over the course of the year artworks from the Rainbow Aphorism series will appear intermittently at various locations across Brixton and Clapham. It takes on a particular significance as there is currently still no permanent memorial to victims of the AIDS crisis in London, despite the impact on the city’s gay community.