The oil on hardwood panel depicts a young man in jeans and leather harness inspecting the title feature, a Red Ribbon. Much of my work deals with queer culture and masculinity. This piece explores the AIDS crisis of the 80’s and early 90’s, as discovered by a new queer generation. I wanted the gaze to convey empathy and honest interest towards the discarded strip of fabric. I wanted that combined with an outfit that suggests ‘fun out on the town,’ as if the party goer stopped to pay a moment of remembrance to those lost, who paved to way to who we are now.