Moving pictures

South End photographer Peter Urban is well known in the local art world for works like his iconic portrait of screen legend Fay Wray and his current "Proof of Motion" series. He said he owes that recognition, in part, to ARTcetera, the biennial art auction benefiting AIDS Action Committee (AAC).

When he attended his first ARTcetera event over a decade ago, Urban was just beginning to ponder the transition from commercial photography to fine art photography. The event provided him with some of his first public exposure in Boston's art scene. Urban has been donating works to the auction ever since.

"I had gone to the event for several years. For me it was part of a transition of how I looked at my work and how I looked at my life, because I was essentially a commercial photographer," said Urban during a recent interview at his Harrison Avenue studio. "I had always been an artful commercial photographer, but that was part of a series of dominos that fell into place where I realized I really wanted to pursue fine art more aggressively, and it's one of the local things you can do to present yourself to the city without being attached to a gallery or anything like that."

This year's ARTcetera takes place on Nov. 1 at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama. The auction features hundreds of works in variety of media that will be up for bid in live or silent auctions. Since its inception in 1985, ARTcetera has raised more than $4.5 million dollars for AIDS Action Committee's programs and services, according to the organization.

As a person living with AIDS Urban also felt it was important to do his part to raise money to fight the epidemic. In addition to donating his work to ARTcetera, he has also worked over the years on a pro bono basis doing promotional photography for agencies like AAC and Community Servings. He said when he first began participating in ARTcetera there was a heightened sense of urgency in Boston around AIDS advocacy. With treatments that have enabled people with HIV and AIDS to live longer, healthier lives, Urban believes that sense of urgency has faltered

"The problem today is ... the issue of AIDS is not really touching people's lives in the same way as it did in the '80s. You could walk down Charles Street or Tremont Street at any hour of the day and see somebody with AIDS. And you knew they had AIDS. They looked like they had AIDS. If you didn't know somebody directly who had it you knew somebody who did. And we've lost that," said Urban. "When there's a call for action I think it's a harder sell."

He said he hoped by being open about his status and sharing his story he could help personalize the fight against AIDS for people who no longer have a direct connection to the epidemic. Urban said when he was first diagnosed 20 years ago there was little hope for people with AIDS to live a long life. He started taking the drug AZT, and for about 10 years he tried a variety of other medications, dropping one when it no longer worked and staying healthy just long enough to find another to keep him going. Many of his friends weren't so lucky; Urban knew many people who did not last a year after their diagnosis.

The photographer managed to stay healthy through the late '90s, when drug cocktails came on the market and began to offer people living with AIDS the possibility of a long, healthy life. He saw firsthand how those life-saving drugs changed the public's perception of AIDS.

"In the past I'd tell you I have AIDS and you'd go, oh, I'm so sorry for you. And now I tell strangers I've had AIDS for 20 years, and I get this," making a high-five motion with his arm. "But that doesn't deny the fact that there's a need for support and a need for funds and a need to keep pushing, because it hasn't gone away. ... We need to be represented and we need a vaccine."

Urban said living with AIDS has had a profound affect on his approach to art, including the piece he'll be offering up for auction at ARTcetera, "The Living Symbol," part of his "Proof of Motion" series. Like other entries in "Proof of Motion," "The Living Symbol" juxtaposes two related images side-by-side, both framed by a grid pattern in the background. The first image is a photo of a young Iraq war veteran dressed in his uniform reaching out to the viewer; the second image shows the same uniform, minus its wearer, floating suspended in mid-air. Like all of the "Proof of Motion" photos the piece contains an image of a person Urban met in Boston who most people might pass by without giving much thought. Urban donated the piece through the South End's Gallery Kayafas, which represents him in Boston.

"It's made me look at everything with new eyes. All the things, all the people, all the jobs we take for granted have a back story, just like a person with AIDS has a back story," said Urban.
Despite the fact that it depicts a soldier in uniform, Urban said the piece is less about war than about the subject's gesture toward the audience.

"The gesture to me, it's not a war piece to me at all, it's about human touch, the human connection," said Urban. "Regardless of what you feel about Iraq or the war, everyone knows that this is heartbreaking for the families, and we got it so wrong in Vietnam in terms of support for the military, and 40 years later we get the chance to get it right and acknowledge these folks. So why wouldn't you reach back to him?"

Urban said over the course of working on "Proof of Motion" he has come to realize that it speaks to his own life as a person living with AIDS.

"I've come to realize it's a statement about me and my life. I'm proof of motion. I did not stop, I kept making work, I kept moving," said Urban. "And so it also applies to AIDS, and fundraising for AIDS. What we're trying to do with something like ARTcetera is give proof or evidence to the public at large that there is still this cause that is still in motion. It has not stopped."
To purchase tickets to ARTcetera visit aac.org