Writing Art History Since 2002

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NICOLAAS MARITZ RECEIVES FRENCH HONOUR WITH ‘LOVE THE ONE YOUR’E WITH’

It was announced on 15 June 2011 in Paris that an HIV awareness poster design bySouth African artist Nicolaas Maritz, titled “Love the one you’re with”,was one of five winners chosen by the NGO Dessine l’espoir / Designing forhope in their recent poster competition. According to the artist, he recently sent the NGO a batch of poster designswhich he had made on computer, from some scanned doodles and sketches,together with appropriate slogans, not even thinking of the ‘competition’,but just to be used in various ways that it could. The ‘prize’ has come as a complete surprise.”We are glad to inform you that your picture, “Love the one you’re with” hasbeen selected by the members of the jury to be part of the ” I love youpositive or negative ” campaign.Dessine l’espoir will use your picture on condom packaging andor postersand stickers for his campaign, which fights against HIV and AIDS relatedstigma and discrimination. The results will be afterward announced to all the candidates by e-mail,then communicated on the website of Dessine l’Espoir:http://www.dessinelespoir.org and the facebook of the NGO.”In fact, six of Maritz’s poster designs took first place, but only one waschosen to represent the series for the official results. The others willalso be reproduced on different products, like t-shirts or bags, as part ofthe ongoing ” I love you positive or negative ” campaign in South Africa,Swaziland, Burkina Faso, and elsewhere.This is not the first collaboration between Maritz and this NGO. The artistwas first invited to take part in the ARTISTS4LIFE competition with the “Ilove you positive or negative” theme, a project developed with the supportof UNESCO in 2006. His work was amongst those selected, and after featuringin a South African exhibition at the Johannesburg Alliance Francaise, and aParis exhibition at the Rothschild Foundation, the work was reproduced oncondom packaging as a relevant HIV ‘message’. “On December 1st, 2006, Designing Hope created for World AIDS Day, a bookletof 24 condoms entitled ” One Month of Love “. This booklet also exists in aminiature version, called “Une nuit d’amour” (One night of Love). The saleof these booklets enables the continuation of activities by Designing Hopein Southern Africa.”

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