(CHICAGO) July 14, 2016 – Art AIDS America, a groundbreaking exhibition which underscores the deep and unforgettable presence of HIV in American art, culminates its U.S. tour here at the Alphawood Gallery (2401 North Halsted Street, Chicago). This temporary space has been created in a former bank by the Chicago-based Alphawood Foundation to bring the exhibition to its only Midwest venue.  Admission to the exhibition will be free with timed tickets; it opens on World AIDS Day, Thursday, December 1, 2016, continuing through Sunday, April 2, 2017. Prior to Chicago, Art AIDS America will have appeared at the Tacoma Art Museum in Washington State, the Zuckerman Museum in suburban Atlanta, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York City generating considerable interest and attention at each location.

In 1971, Cambodia was in the midst of a civil war between the Communist Party of Kampuchea, more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge, and the government forces of Cambodia. Seth joined the Cambodian army; he was in southern Thailand at a military-training facility when Khmer Rouge insurgents captured Phnom Penh in 1975. He had a crucial decision to make: He could return to Cambodia to try to protect his family, including his wife and two sons, and risk execution; or he could flee to the United States as a refugee and leave behind everyone and everything he knew, yet hold out hope that his loved ones would survive.

A full-scale model of the tiny home design that won a recent contest for housing for youth experiencing homelessness in Chicago was on display in advance of the April 18-19 Tiny Homes for the Homeless Summit at UIC.