The Ryan White Foundation

This poster was EVERYWHERE! It appeared on several talk shows with Ryan’s mother, Jeanne, and was made available to schools and AIDS organizations – as well as to anyone who wrote the foundation and requested one..

This problem began to stake shape shortly after Ryan had died from complications related to the AIDS virus. Jeanne and I put our heads together to create a poster that would show the many faces of AIDS- children, mothers, women, gay men, straight men and superstars.

This poster is monumental, not only because of the subject, but it was also the first time that I had to deal with releases, permissions and copyright- The original draft of this poster included Magic Johnson in his Laker uniform- I quickly learned that you have to get permission from the NBA in order to use or depict an image of the uniform (or it’s colors) and/or the player’s number… it was a learning experience. I also had to, because of the sensitive nature of this illustration get signed releases from every person (or their family) who appears.