INDIANAPOLIS — Damien Center’s brand new building on East Washington Street is expected to open early next year.
And greeting you when you enter will be 1,700-square foot mosaic.
The mosaic is inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a national community arts project started in 1987.
Folks are encouraged to create whatever makes them happy and makes them feel welcomed.
“When we were putting the building together we wanted to have the community be involved in it. The idea of our new building was to have a space for community to come and exist," Marketing & Communications Director Kyle Galle said.
Three additional pieces of artwork at the new building will include a 190-square-foot mural designed by Matthew Cooper, an emerging visual artist from Indianapolis; a 670-square foot mural designed by local artist Koda Witsken; and a 180-square-foot paint- by-numbers mural that will be designed by Indianapolis-based artists Tiffany Black and Qahar Behzad in collaboration with Damien Center clients.
Future community workshops will be announced for these three projects.
Damien Center is the state’s largest AIDS service organization, which provides care and services for those at risk or living with HIV.
Galle says he hopes the new locations allows them to continue the work they do.
“Their medical care, the prescriptions they need to be undetectable and stay untransmittable. Those who are at risk of HIV, we give them things like condoms, PrEP, things to keep them from contracting HIV," Galle said.
If you’d like to get involved with the mosaic, the two remaining public workshops are July 9 and 10.
They'll be from 1 to 5 p.m. at Ten East Arts Center.
