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Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) will observe Day With(out) Art on December 1, 2006, with extended hours from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and a special photographic presentation. In addition to the continuing installation of Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds, MOCRA will project images from the series Living Proof by photographer Carolyn Jones. The exhibition and observance are free and open to the public.

The 1992–93 Living Proof project is a suite of positive portraits of people with HIV/AIDS—people who did not experience their diagnosis as an imminent death sentence. Though the dynamics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic have shifted in the intervening years, the images and their accompanying stories are as fresh and compelling now as when they were first published in 1994. The creative force behind the images is Carolyn Jones, whose wide-ranging career in photography and film includes stints shooting for national magazines like Esquire and Details and directing projects for PBS and Oxygen. MOCRA has five prints from Living Proof in its collection, and has arranged with Jones to project additional portraits in its nave gallery for this Day With(out) Art observance.

The Living Proof images complement MOCRA’s installation of Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds, the mercurial and buoyant pillow-shaped silver mylar balloons that roam the air currents of MOCRA’s spacious nave gallery. MOCRA Director Rev. Terrence Dempsey, S.J., notes that “for many of our visitors who have confronted serious illness, the Silver Clouds have served as a tangible embodiment of the letting go of pain and the hope of healing. On December 1, we invite all those who have experienced HIV and AIDS in some way, to come to MOCRA and share in that experience of hope and healing.”

Day With(out) Art has been observed by galleries and museums annually since 1989 on December 1, World AIDS Day, in recognition of the striking impact of HIV/AIDS on the creative community. Originally called simply “Day Without Art,” the parentheses were added to emphasize the more active approach being taken in many venues—rather than the simple removal of artwork. MOCRA hosted Day Without Art events in 1994 and 2000 that brought together members of the St. Louis visual and performing arts communities.

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