David McDiarmid
: ACON (AIDS Council of New South Wales), 1992.

A complete set of the original AIDS Council of New South Wales safe sex and safe injecting posters featuring artwork commissioned from David McDiarmid (1952-1995). “For people of a certain disposition and a certain age, David McDiarmid’s ACON posters were part of our exploration of sexuality and identity amidst the HIV/AIDS crisis during the 1990s. The large multicoloured muscular naked male bodies with symbols, acronyms and names scrawled across each limb: positives and negatives of grief/lust/fear/care provided a new language for a community to own its public health concerns, and a troubling and appealing depiction of much of our felt ambivalence surrounding sexuality. They, along with his massive and elaborate Mardi Gras floats, were the backdrops to the AIDS vigils of the 1990s; an intense time of shuddering grief and defiant sexual pride.” (Margaret Mayhew, Artllink Issue 34:3) Full list of posters: 1. Some of us get out of it, some of us don’t. All of us fuck with condoms – every time!; 2. HIV, discrimination and grief threaten our community, Build our strength, stay together and support each other; 3. Some of us have HIV, some of us don’t. All of us fuck with condoms – every time!; 4. Some of us inject, some of us don’t. Always use clean needles – every time!; 5. Some of us are in love, some of us are in lust. All of us fuck with condoms – every time!