Going to Camp by Women's Studio Workshop
A Meditation about Aids, Quarantine, Exile, and Personal Loss
The camp referred to here is not summer camp, but the concentration-camp-like-isolation that faced AIDS victims, especially in the early years of public misinformation about the disease. Twenty artists and writers contributed to this project: "We dedicate this project to those we have lost. Artists' proceeds from this project will benefit the Gay Men's Health Crisis, New York City."
John Neely: "How does one introduce such a book? I could write about the history of AIDS or the art contained within, but I think not. Instead I want to instruct you to hold this book with great care in your hands. Be gentle, for it is full of dreams, lost lives, and lives yet to be lived. ...
"All of us gathered here have experienced the loss of life from AIDS. We worry about our own lives, about the possibility of camps and death, but each of us has become a stronger person because of those who are gone."
Processes, Dimensions, and Edition Information
By Lyman Piersma
Rosendale, New York: Women's Studio Workshop, 1987.
Edition of 65.
Two book housed in thick folded-paper envelope, which is held closed by an elastic string attached to a clay seal embossed with the words "Going to camp." Book I, Illustrations (8.5 x 9.25", 18 pages) is an accordion structure which unfolds to a cross shape. Printing methods: silkscreen, photocopy, rubber stamp, photographs. Book II (5.9 x 5.9", 16 pages) is pamphlet stitched and contains five short prose pieces.