World AIDS Day honored on campus

Suggestive sculptures personify a slippery subject today at IU’s second annual Latexhibition in observation of World AIDS Day, which will be held Dec. 1. \nAn internationally recognized clinician will join the condom-laden art exhibit on campus, which recognizes the day that raises awareness of the AIDS epidemic and how to prevent the spread of the disease. \nDr. Brian Dodge, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion, said World AIDS Day began in 1988. Events throughout the world, including those on campus today, are held this week to commemorate the day. \n“With the mission of our center being education, research and \ntraining, this is a great opportunity to share the work we do with community,” Dodge said.\nTo promote sexual health and education, the IU Center for Sexual Health Promotion is hosting the Latexhibition art contest from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in the Dogwood Room of the Indiana Memorial Union. Artists from the community create displays for the art exhibit that includes latex barrier devices to promote preventing sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Dodge said the event attracts people from across the country, as well as the community, to be creative with latex to commemorate the event. \nCenter Research Coordinator Christopher Fisher, who organized Latexhibition, said the purpose of a condom-laced art show is to “promote sexual health through art.”\n“We invite students, faculty, staff and community members in Bloomington to design some kind of artistic piece out of latex, condoms, dental dams, anything made out of latex,” he said. \nWhile the Latexhibition’s Web site has photos of the winners’ entries from last year, Fisher said some entries were especially memorable. \n“One entry was a window box piece that had an all-American hotdog stand, with fries, soda and a hot dog wrapped in a condom,” he said. “The message of the piece was ‘Don’t forget to wrap your wiener!’”\nAlso featured that year was a Christmas tree made entirely out of condoms, a Magic Eye picture spelling the word “Safe” and a snowman made out of multiple latex products.\nA panel of judges will review the artwork and award monetary prizes to the best displays.\nIn addition to Latexhibition, the Center for Sexual Health Promotion is sponsoring a speech from Dr. David Malebranche, a sexual health researcher and clinician from the Emory University School of Medicine. \n“We usually just have one speaker a year, and this year we were really fortunate to have Dr. David Malebranche,” Dodge said.\nDodge said Malebranche is a professor in general medicine and only one of the few researchers sponsored by the National Institute of Health to conduct research on black bisexual men. He will deliver his speech, “Black Bisexual Men and HIV: Time to Think Deeper,” at 7 p.m. today in the Dogwood Room of the IMU. \n“He also has a clinical practice in which he routinely works with HIV-positive people in Atlanta on a diverse spectrum,” Dodge said. “He embodies everything I think of about the day: researching, treating people (and) educating about HIV/AIDS.”