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AIDS posters
The Wellcome Library holds the fourth largest collection of AIDS posters in the world. This collection has been digitised and catalogued and is now available online via Wellcome Images. Originating from 99 countries and in 75 languages, there are almost 3000 posters within the collection, most of which were acquired from a
single collector in 1999. The subject range is not just about safe sex, homosexuality and drugs, but many other topics including love, hate, fear, death, ignorance, discrimination, race and politics.
The dates of the posters range from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. Early posters illustrate the initial panic, fear and prejudice that ignorance about the disease first provoked. As the epidemic continued to spread, during the mid 1990s, eye-catching advertising campaigns emerged. Such is the global impact of AIDS that these posters reveal a fascinating and historic insight
into different cultures, regional dialects and their various ways of dealing with the disease.
Many of these images are now available to view under a Creative Commons licence, while others are still undergoing copyright clearance procedures.
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