XX-XX-1997 – Freddie Mercury Photo Exhibition

In a move specifically designed to heighten awareness and understanding of the growing HIV/AIDS problem in the country, the Rumanian town of Timisoara has invited the Freddie Mercury Photographic Exhibition to be shown at the towns Banatul Museum in early May.

The Exhibition, first shown at Londons Royal Albert Hall late last year and subsequently staged in Paris and Cologne, will be open to the public at the Museum for a week starting May 6th. With 94 photo images, the exhibition documents the life of the late Queen lead singer from his early childhood days in Zanzibar, East Africa, through to the very last photo he allowed to be taken in May 1991. The Exhibition was set up in memory of Freddie who passed away from AIDS in November 1991 as a means of raising funds to further support the work of the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the AIDS foundation established in his name.

The incidence of HIV/AIDS in Rumania, as in other East European countries, continues to grow, fuelled by a reluctance to acknowledge its existence in the country. The siting of the Exhibition in Timisoara has particular significance. The third largest university town in Rumania, with a history of rebellion against authority, the town was the centre of the December 1989 revolution. It was out of the revolution that the problem of paediatric AIDS in hospitals and orphanages in Rumania was identified, leading to the current efforts to address the problem.

Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury remain among the most popular artists in Rumania, and it is felt that by staging the exhibition in Timisoara public attention can be focused on the subject of the illness that brought about Mercurys death. Working with the Pepsi Cola Organisation who will sponsor the event along with the exhibitions main sponsor, EMI Music, the exhibition will also be used to raise funds for AIDS work in the country.

This will not be the first time Queen has provided its support to AIDS work in Rumania. Through the Mercury Phoenix Trust over £200,000 has already been donated to fight the problem of paediatric AIDS in central Rumania. It is hoped the effect of the exhibition will enable it to extend its work to other areas of the country.

After its showing in Rumania, the Exhibition continues to travel the world, visiting Montreux, Switzerland in July, Japan, and then returning to the UK to go on show in a number of cities.