In A Dream
You Saw A Way To Survive
and You Were Filled With Joy

An exhibition to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the New York City AIDS Memorial

Organized by Keith Fox & Stephen Truax

October 28—31, 2026

Opening Reception:
October 28, 6—8 PM

Hosted by:

520 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011

Leilah Babirye
Gretchen Bender
Joe Brainard
Jared Buckhiester
Kyle Dunn
Austin Eddy
Cy Gavin
General Idea
Sam Gilliam
Jennifer Guidi
Simon Haas
Hugh Hayden

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

Loie Hollowell
Shara Hughes
Peter Hujar
Natia Lemay
Glenn Ligon
Robert Mapplethorpe
Chris Martin
Ryan McGinley
Sam McKinniss
Justin Liam O'Brien
Adam Pendleton
Hilary Pecis

Jack Pierson
Peter Shear
Aaron Michael Skolnick
Harold Stevenson
Tom of Finland
Alessandro Teoldi
Hank Willis Thomas
Wolfgang Tillmans
Richard Tinkler
Nicole Wittenberg
David Wojnarowicz
Jimmy Wright

*As of 9/16

“This painting is about passing down life skills and embodied knowledge to friends. Preserving the New York City AIDS Memorial felt like an appropriate context for this work, as connecting to community and supporting one another through collective action is and was central to the mobilization of the fight against AIDS.”

— Loie Hollowell

Art has always been at the heart of resistance, healing, and remembrance.

The New York City AIDS Memorial and David Kordansky Gallery are pleased to present In A Dream You Saw A Way To Survive and You Were Filled With Joy, an exhibition organized by Keith Fox and Stephen Truax to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the New York City AIDS Memorial. The exhibition will open on Wednesday, October 28, with a public reception celebrating the artists and the organization from 6—8 PM. The exhibition will remain on view through Saturday, October 31, at David Kordansky Gallery’s 520 West 20th Street location.

In A Dream celebrates a landmark decade of honoring the more than 100,000 New Yorkers lost to AIDS, celebrating the heroism of caregivers and activists, and empowering current and future generations living with and impacted by HIV/AIDS. Proceeds from artwork sales will directly fund the Memorial’s ongoing preservation, educational outreach, and cultural programming, including the commissioning of new public artworks and performances.

The exhibition will feature original and exclusive limited-edition works generously contributed by world-renowned contemporary artists and artists’ estates. Attendees will have the opportunity to view the works firsthand and acquire pieces directly supporting the Memorial’s mission to empower current and future generations living with and impacted by HIV/AIDS.

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"This exhibition reminds us that we must uplift and preserve the multi-generational networks of artists, advocates, and friends most affected by the traumas of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The New York City AIDS Memorial is an essential partner in caring for these cultural lineages."

— Adam Pendleton

  • I’m honoured to donate this painting in support of the New York City AIDS Memorial. I think of care as a collective act, something we give, receive, and carry forward through one another. The history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is inseparable from this kind of collectivity, from communities caring for one another, holding memory, and creating ways to endure together. To me, continuing that care is also a way of preserving what has been carried forward.

    —Natia Lemay

  • “It’s an honor to contribute to a wonderful monument and cause that encourages one to look into the past all the while teaching us to act now for the future. Moments like this show us that tenderness is strength.”

    —Aaron Michael Skolnick

  • “The portrait I have included in this exhibition creates an imagined space outside of time for my friend to fit into. The New York City AIDS Memorial reminds us that though the real world can be brutal and in crisis, we can still create a beautiful world with painting, and my project is to figure out how to fit my friend into it. The world becomes real once you paint it.”

    —Justin Liam O’Brien

  • “I am honored to be among this group of artists presenting work for the benefit of the New York City AIDS Memorial. Since the Memorial's dedication ten years ago, artists have continually engaged with the site, the histories of the surrounding neighborhood, and dozens of programs responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and related movements. This benefit sale extends an ongoing, collective effort,."

    —Kyle Dunn

Presented with:

Deepest gratitude to Stephen Truax, Truax Art Advisory, Thomas McCarty, Tom Weinrich Studio, Hangman, and especially all the donating artists, estates, foundations, and their galleries, as well as to the team at David Kordansky Gallery.

Header Image: General Idea, Great AIDS (Cadmium Orange Light), 1990/2019, Acrylic on linen, 59 x 59 inches, © General Idea, Courtesy Truax Art Advisory / Photo: Thomas McCarty; Loie Hollowell, Friends in conversation over time, 2025, Oil, acrylic medium, aqua resin, epoxy resin, and sawdust on linen over panel, 24 x 18 x 2.5 inches, Courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery; Exhibition Title © Jenny Holzer, Member, Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.