Mott-Ly Tisdale

Artist Biography

Of the three assemblages included in this exhibition, christmas is perhaps the most personal. Mott-Ly suffered from Haemophilia B, also known as Christmas disease, named after Stephen Christmas, the first patient discovered with the disease in 1952. Over the course of his blood transfusion treatments, Mott-Ly contracted HIV before blood donors were routinely screened for the virus. The AIDS epidemic peaked in the 1990s when a reported 16,000 people worldwide were newly infected each day and an estimated 30 million people had the virus. In America, AIDS was the leading cause of death for people ages 25-44 by 1994. For many artists, the impact this epidemic had on their lives and the world seeped into their work, infusing a sense of loss and despair that remains visceral for many today.