created for a class on "Art & Social Conscience"

please see more about creating art for AIDS here: [link]

p.s. this piece also features a finger-painting collaboration with German S. Shible <3



Mini Explanation/Essay:

Man Eating Fire


Amy Ng



I wanted to express the emotions and ideas surrounding HIV/AIDS through images of fire and light. The title of this piece, man eating fire, holds a triple meaning; it unfolds for the viewer when he/she takes a moment to change the emphasis on different words in the title. This exercise in altering and experimenting with verbal, mental, and linguistic processes hopefully encourages the viewer to explore the issue of HIV/AIDS from a multitude of perspectives.


Firstly, the notion of a man-eating fire refers literally to HIV/AIDS as a virus that consumes the human body by burning down its protective barriers. To represent this, I used a finger-painted background with fiery tones, which also feature a bare, gestural image of a man created out of fire and simultaneously contained within it. This duality reflects the passion of millions of individuals that fight through the stigma or ignorance of HIV/AIDS to live, to raise awareness, to raise respect, to raise funds, and to raise hope for this pandemic. However, the embedded position of this man also illustrates the numerous social and political barriers that prevent humanity (the human body as a collective whole) from healing. For instance, although antiretroviral therapy can help slow down the progression of HIV/AIDS, poor access to proper health care in many parts of the world makes this an unfeasible option for millions of affected people.


Secondly, a man, eating fire is also a common circus act, a fact that symbolically underlines some of the spectacle-driven aspects of the fight against HIV/AIDS. For example, the creation of Product Red and the American Express Red card aims to get money for the HIV/AIDS cause by linking consumerism with activism. Not only have prestige brands lent their names, their images, and their ad dollars to the campaign, but they have also borrowed the profits, the PR, and the corporate philanthropy to boost their own commercial causes while donating a minimal (but present) amount of funds for eliminating AIDS in Africa. With a host of celebrity endorsement, Product Red generates a fantastic spectacle that overshadows the question of why individuals who wish to make a difference would not just donate directly to NGOs and other charities without first jumping through the hoops of capitalism. The answer inadvertently provided through Product Red may just be that these NGOs and charities are simply less glamorous. Drawing from this point, I used the bright lights of an upside-down merry-go-round and a snippet of an ad for a prominent liquor brand to similarly represent this attraction to spectacle. By changing the face of HIV/AIDS from individuals, families, and communities living and dying through the pandemic to the polished and iconic faces of spokespeople such as Bono and brands such as Giorgio Armani, a “man, eating fire” obscures the fading man-eating fire whose face in this collage, is barely seen through all the other inorganic images of fire and light.


Thirdly, a man eating fire is yet another definition of the phrase this time inspired by a professor’s trip to South Africa. During a class slideshow, Professor Bervoets showed us many photographs; captured images of poverty-stricken ghettos and children burying their parents in mass graves were contrasted with beautiful, commercial tourist spaces that offered its privileged occupants every luxury that money can (and would) buy. In this case, I chose to layer inorganic or unnatural images (such as a merry-go-round, an alcohol bottle, and dead fish) over a natural landscape on my collage to represent the significance of choosing material decadence over innate moral conviction. While Professor Bervoet juxtaposed images of highly guarded rich white hotels with images of black HIV/AIDS infected mothers and children, the gap between the rich and the poor in South Africa became starkly evident. The presence of fire and light here is one marked by privilege; for those who continue to live and die in the dark, a man eating fire stands as a testament for the necessity of change.