America in the ’80s

A special focus on the AIDS crisis in the 1980s forms the context for this somber motion graphics piece within the Global Health exhibition. Spanning three displays of different sizes—in effect, a disjointed canvas—imagery and text unfold the story of the political and social fear that surrounded our nation’s grappling with this difficult health problem as it became recognized as a pandemic. Second Story researched the AIDS epidemic in government and non-profit sources, gathering facts and quotations from political players during the crisis and imagery that evokes the feeling of fear Americans faced at the time—ultimately weaving together text, images, sound, and animations to underscore the mounting tension as the epidemic played out across the nation.