Tony Tugnutt

NEW proposals for a memorial commemorating lives lost to Aids have been unveiled this week, but the shortlist of five artworks has caused controversy.

The memorial, earmarked for a space in Store Street, Bloomsbury, has been put together by voluntary group Aids Memorial UK.

Artists Anya Gallaccio, Ryan Gander, Harold Offeh, Shahpour Pouyan and Diana Puntar made the final cut with a decision by a panel of judges due to be made this summer.

The aim is to create a space that “offers remembrance and solidarity, commem­orating those who have been affected by HIV and Aids, then, now and in the future”.

But while the location has been universally welcomed, the design for the artwork has not.

Tony Tugnutt, the former chair of the Bloomsbury conservation area advisory committee (CAAC), was diagnosed HIV positive in 1985.

He has created an alternative design with artist Lorraine Jones and metal worker Rob Langley, featuring the universally recognised red ribbon logo, launched in 1991 to show solidarity with people who were suffering from HIV and Aids.

He told the Westminster Extra: “There has been no publicity for drawing up a shortlist and no one knows what it will look like.”

Tony and Debbie Ratcliffe of the Bloomsbury CAAC met organiser Ash Kotak in 2022 to discuss the plans, which were originally for a series of thin white poles.

Mr Tugnutt said: “We said the proposed idea was unsuitable in a conservation context.

“It would be very detrimental and you would lose the sense of the crescent.

“What is it trying to say?

“We told them it was not acceptable.”

It prompted Mr Tugnutt to commission his own design.

He said: “We suggested the ribbon (inset) as it is an internationally recognised symbol.

“It has history, and is perfect for it. There is no conflict about it, it has been issued since 1991. At this very moment, when homophobia is on the rise, it’s so important to have a tangible and readily identifiable symbol in a prominent location, not some abstract conceptual insult.”

But the team behind the plans say they have not received any suggestions from Mr Tugnutt and they used a “targeted call-out” by art consultants Modus Operandi.

Working from a list of more than 250 possible contributors, they contacted artists, curators, galleries, art schools, sculpture foundations and studios, bringing in 30 expressions of interest.

The winning design will be chosen by a panel headed by chief executive officer of Arts&Heritage Stephanie Allen and includes representatives from the Greater London Authority, art historians, the medical world and public art specialists.

Aids Memory UK founder and artistic director Ash Kotak said: “It has been a long journey to get to this point.

“It is incredibly exciting.

“This group of acclaimed and inspiring artists, with their diverse practices, each bring a different perspective to the memorial. I look forward to seeing what our esteemed panel of judges makes of them.”

Currently no imagery has been made public of what the designs could look like, with initial proposals focusing on concepts.

The artists are now working on their final designs.

Mr Tugnutt said that there needed to be greater transparency over the selection process.

And he added: “It is public money being spent for the public good.

“I feel it is important there is no controversy about this as it would be really disrespectful to the victims.

“People were fighting for their lives. It needs to be respectful.”

Aids Memorial UK told the Westminster Extra it had not received any expressions of interest from Mr Tugnutt, and that therefore his design was not considered.

‘We became untouchables, I was told I had two years to live and to get on with anything I wanted to do quickly’

TONY Tugnutt, now 75, has lived with HIV for nearly 40 years.

He said: “People forget what it was like at the time.

“I was diagnosed in the spring of 1985. The HIV test had only been developed in late 1984. I had gone for a random check-up and the senior registrar said to me, ‘we have this new test, would you like it?’ I thought OK, go on then.

“I then got a call from Westminster Hospital. They said your results are in and they are positive.

“Positive, I thought. That is good news, I remember smiling. ‘Oh no’, said the doctor. ‘It means you have been exposed to the virus’.

“I said ‘how long have I got, doctor?’

“He replied: ‘two years, no more. If you want to do anything, I suggest you get on with it. And what you absolutely must not do is tell anyone at all. Not your friends, your family, not your work, not your GP’.

“Such was the dreadful climate back in the early days with no effective treatments.”

Mr Tugnutt, pictured, had to witness close friends succumb to the illness.

He said: “I had one friend and I remember going to see him. He opened the door. He was a fairly chunky bloke; I went to hug him and there was just nothing there. He was a skeleton. He was in a terrible way. I thought – should I tell him? I decided not to. He would have felt the whole world was falling down. I never went back. I thought to myself, that is me in just two years’ time. It was a very frightening experience.

“For the next 20 years life went on, but numerous friends suffered horrible disfiguring deaths, so cruel for gay men in their 20s. I described it as ‘strolling through the valley of the shadow of death’.”

And the spread of HIV brought with it a stigma. Mr Tugnutt recalls: “Back in the 1960s and 1970s having ‘gay friends’ was considered chic and cool. But we became untouchables overnight. There was no cure, no medication.

“I survived a whole decade without any hope. It was not only a massive strain on hopeless gay men who were diagnosed HIV+ but also for the medical professionals who were reduced to mere death managers.

“I just carried on. I kept my head down. What else could I do?”

The memorial means much to Mr Tugnutt.

He said: “I feel survivor’s guilt. I think – why me?

“Why did some of my friends survive and others didn’t?

“I feel I have to use the time I have left, the time they were denied, to recognise what happened. This is very important to me. All these wonderful, gifted, creative, people who gave so much to London.”

And a memorial would be a reminder of battles that are never over. “Gay people are again under threat,” Mr Tugnutt said. “Homophobia is on the rise. Now is exactly the right time for this symbol to rise in central London. I have a strong determination to ensure my friends and tens of thousands of victims are shown due respect.”