Perspectives on the Storm

The Florida-based installation Storm helped raise awareness of the effects of HIV infection around the world by presenting viewers with a synthesis of spoken word materials and an interactive visual environment.  The work, created by medical pathologist Rosemarie Chiarlone and poet Susan Weiner, incorporated a poem by Weiner and voices from an oral history project exploring the experiences of patients along with photos by Chiarlone and scanning electron microscope images of the AIDS virus.

The work immersed visitors in a 10′x10′ space defined by floating broadcloth screens and walls with small ledges.  As an edited montage of personal experiences filled the air, images played across the surfaces, including Weiner’s poem “Death Wind.”  A collection of smooth river stones bore the names of people who had died from the disease, and visitors could write the names of friends who had died on stones and place them on the ledges bordering the installation.   The movement of visitors within the installation and in the larger space changed the work, creating shadows and allowing glimpses of figures beyond the screen, allowing “people outside the space [to] become part of the interior.

This notion of fluid, permeable boundaries provided an indirect, tacit way of exploring some of the issues surrounding health and wellness.  The passage of shadows and forms from the gallery to the interior of the exhibit could be seen as a representation of infection and the changes in perception of one’s own body that accompany any illness.

The initial gallery appearance received a warm welcome, and Chiarlone and Weiner planned to tour the US with the work.  Elements of the installation appeared at galleries and public events, but unfortunately the work as a whole has not appeared extensively since its debut.