Adam R. Gale was born on November 26, 1963. He died on November 28, 1991 at 28 years old in Washington, D.C.

Adam Gale, a dancer and performance artist, chronicled his own impending death as one of the makers of "Rubber Queen: An AIDS Docu-diary," a six-part documentary for public access television in Washington, D.C.

Adam Gale: Acts from a Life (with AIDS)

Conceived and performed by Adam Gale

Produced by Chris Belcher

Original music by John Guernsey

When Adam walked into the office of DCTV and asked if I was interested in doing a video series about his challenge of living with AIDS, a series to be continued until his death, I knew he was asking a lot. Adam asks a lot from all of us, but from that he gives even more.

What emerged was "Rubber Queen: an AIDS Docu-diary" in six episodes, for a total of four and a half hours. I knew that was asking the audience a lot.

Since Adam's death in 1991, I have been working to bring the work down to manageable, and watchable, form. The result is "Adam Gale: Acts from a Life (with AIDS)," an 86 minute video. If you've never known someone living with AIDS, you will after seeing this; and you could not hope for a more caring, thoughtful and engaging subject than Adam. Ultimately, the film is a testament to the power of art to transform and give meaning to the artist's experience, and to allow the viewer to participate in that transformative process.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

In 2000, the Guggenheim in NYC included his work as part of a film series dedicated to raising awareness about the early days of AIDS.