London will soon welcome a new ‘Tree Of Life’ sculpture into the centre of the city to pay tribute to all those who have been affected – in the past, present, and the future – by HIV/AIDS. It comes after artist Anya Gallacio’s design was selected from a shortlist of five works, and has now been commissioned to be put up in the city to mark The AIDS Memorial in London.
Anya Gallaccio’s beautiful design will resemble a fallen tree, and is set to sit on South Crescent, Store Street in Fitzrovia to offer a space for reflection and solidarity, and to remember those who are no longer with us as well as think of those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS today.
The Tree Of Life will fittingly sit close to the former site of Middlesex Hospital, which held the first ward dedicated entirely to caring for and treating people affected by HIV/AIDS in the UK. It took care of patients from January 1987, though it was opened by Princess Diana in April of the same year; when she famously shook the hand of a patient living with AIDS, challenging beliefs that HIV/AIDS could be transmitted by touch.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has also put forward £130,000 of funding towards the memorial from the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. There is no exact confirmation on when the Tree Of Life will arrive, but after further research and creation by Anya Gallacio, it is hoped that the unveiling will come at the end of 2027.
Speaking about her design, Anya Gallaccio said: “The proposal as it stands is holding space with the intention of providing a meeting place, a heart for community generated events and oral histories… The tree is a symbol of life.
“The planes that line the street side of the crescent are everywhere in the city, for good reason, they withstand pollution. They are survivors, living, despite their environment, a clunky but perhaps fitting metaphor for those living with HIV and AIDS. Hidden in plain sight.”
Read more about AIDS Memory UK here.
