The ones that got away


 

1

Over 100 artists are featured in the book, but many more have sent us work....

Meanwhile the first people who ordered our book have received it and reactions are very positive, to say the least! Apart from one or two photographers who don't really understand the design concept and who complain because they'd prefer their images to be in a full page size instead of relatively small, all others are happy and proud about our communal achievement. The best thing about the book is that it's so full of hope and beauty, as antidote to pessimism and the feeling that what one person -or a group of persons- does won't change the world- because it can and it does.

When the first photographers and other artists started to send us their work earlier this year, it went slowly and at times we were afraid that we wouldn't be able to fill an entire book with their images, or that we would end up with a very slim tome indeed. But after a few weeks we had more photos and artworks than we had space for in the book, so some of them were witheld- or in some cases, forgotten because there were so many photos to choose from and also, so many cooks in the selection kitchen. I want to share some of these images with you today, as I think they are amazing and would have fitted in the book perfectly. Maybe we should start thinking about the second edition already?

The photo on the left is by John Scarisbrick, one of the photographers of our Fashion against AIDS campaigns (with H&M)

most viewed

  1. Our sister organization NGO Designers against AIDS (DAA) has the Twitter account _DAA and they're trying to organize #PersonalTweetsOnlyDay on September 1st. Here you can find out why.

  2. Beauty without Irony wants to become a place where lovers of true beauty and haters of hypocrisy and hypes come together- although we don’t really ‘do’ hate, since we prefer to focus on the positive at all times.
    Do you want to make the world a more beautiful place? Do you have something amazing to show, or do you know an artist who would fit perfectly in our online art collective? Please let us know and meanwhile, get inspired by what you see here.

  3. This still is from a video installation by contemporary artist Marie Julia Bollanssée- I love the atmosphere and the colours!

  4. Last Friday the DAA book launch and charity auction at Campo & Campo took place and fun was had by all...

  5. On Friday October 29 auction house Campo & Campo in Antwerp auctioned many art works made by photographers and other contemporary artists who also contributed to our new book 'Designers against AIDS: The First Decade!'.

    From the almost 50 works on offer, only 4 didn't sell because they didn't reach the minimum price, so we can say that the auction was a big success. All proceeds go to benefit DAA's new Education Center and a big thanks goes out to everybody who has made this auction and the book possible- you are all superstars! Enjoy the collage of the sold works, made for DAA by Michael James O'Brien and Zoltan Gerliczki.

  6. Over 100 artists are featured in the book, but many more have sent us work....

  7. The making of this book has been pretty intense for a lot of people, so when it arrived from the printers today, a collective sigh of relief could be heard from Antwerp to ...well, to everywhere. Well done, us!

  8. For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality.

  9. We're quite taken with this video called A Warm Place which was made by Jeff Morris in Yosemite Park in California USA. The power of nature is without compare and we're in awe of her beauty.

  10. Beauty without Irony (the art collective that gave birth to Designers against AIDS in 2001) wants to make the world more beautiful by using elements from pop culture to raise awareness about the fact  that life is worth living and that true beauty, love, friendship, health and nature bring lots more- and longer lasting-  joy than expensive handbags, villas or yachts.