Haring's mural at Art Center. Photo: Steven A. Heller / Art Center College of Design

Today is World AIDS Day, an opportunity for people across the globe to unite in the fight against HIV/AIDS and to remember those who have died from the epidemic.

In 1989, artist and social activist Keith Haring visited Art Center to paint an interior mural which still hangs at Hillside Campus.

Painted over the course of two days and created in conjunction with the second annual World AIDS Day (then called AIDS Awareness Day) and as part of the first ever Day Without Art, the mural stands as a permanent memorial to members of the art community who have died of AIDS and serves as a symbol of hope and compassion.

“When AIDS became a reality in terms of my life, it started becoming a subject in my paintings,” Haring was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about the painting of the mural. “The more it affected my life the more it affected my work.”

Haring passed away two months later from AIDS-related complications.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the first reported case of AIDS in the United States. Since 1981 more than 25 million people globally have died from AIDS and more than 33 million individuals today are living with HIV/AIDS.

Want to get involved? Learn the basics of HIV/AIDS and take action!