The AMP: The AIDS Memorial Pathway Master Art Plan by Horatio Hung-Yan Law

Amidst all the cranes and dizzying development taking place on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, there is an exciting new project called The AMP: AIDS Memorial Pathway. The AMP is community-driven and community-funded, and its goals are to use public art to create a physical place for remembrance and reflection, to utilize technology to share stories about the epidemic and the diverse community responses to the crisis, and to provide a call to action to end HIV/AIDS, stigma, and discrimination. To bring shape and purpose to these goals, in the spring of 2018 The AMP partnered with the City’s Office of Arts & Culture to commission artist Horatio Hung-Yan Law to write a master art plan that would define what The AMP could be.

An artist known for his depth of work in community, Horatio Law has developed an art plan that represents months of outreach and conversation with communities affected by HIV/AIDS, and conversations in public open houses and community engagements. Law’s art plan centered individuals and groups currently dealing with HIV/AIDS, especially people of color, transgender individuals, and other historically under-represented communities. Law’s AIDS Memorial Pathway Art Plan also represents deep and sustained dialog with stakeholder-agencies and organizations, including: Sound Transit, Seattle Parks Department, Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), Office of Arts & Culture, Berger Partnership, Schemata Workshop, and Gerding Edlen, the developer of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD). These consultations and conversations shaped the visions and guiding principles for The AMP Master Art Plan.

Horatio Law has written a comprehensive art plan for The AMP that frames and embodies the communal experience of the AIDS epidemic, creates a road map for a series of multi-sensory and experiential public art projects to tell the community stories and responses to the AIDS crisis, and builds understanding between the general public and communities affected by HIV/AIDS. The plan divides The AMP into three major segments that focus on different emotional and symbolic aspects of the pathway, including (1) Remembrance and Reflection, (2) Celebrating Creativity and Life, and (3) Honoring Community Courage and Resilience. The AMP Art Plan also introduces opportunities not only for permanent public artworks, but temporary projects, arts residency programs, and a digital story-telling component. Finally, The AIDS Memorial Pathway Art Plan concludes with a group of essays that convey background histories, personal experiences and a sense of place regarding The AMP and HIV/AIDS in Seattle and King County.