LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On the one-year anniversary of the passing of Elizabeth Taylor, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS group, noted that Taylor’s groundbreaking legacy on AIDS continues to live on.
Taylor, who died last year in Los Angeles at 79, was a fearless and outspoken advocate on behalf of people with AIDS. At the time of her death, Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation said, “Elizabeth Taylor holds a special place in the hearts of people with AIDS and their supporters for her tireless efforts to combat this dreaded disease. Long before it was fashionable, she was there by our side.”
In tribute to Taylor for her efforts on AIDS, AHF created the first-ever AIDS-themed Tournament of Roses Parade Float. AHF’s parade entry, ‘Elizabeth Taylor: Our Champion,’ which AHF entered in the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade, was seen by more than 40 million US viewers as well as over 20 million international viewers of the parade on January 2, 2012. The float served as poignant reminder of Taylor’s enormous compassion and tireless work on AIDS and also as a stark reminder that the fight against AIDS is not over. AHF’s Taylor tribute float won the Tournament’s prestigious ‘Queen’s Trophy’ for best use of roses.
AHF’s parade entry was designed by award winning float designer Raul Rodriquez and was built by the respected and award-winning Fiesta Parade floats (video: time lapse construction of the float). The float was made of 150,000 flowers and took the form of an oversized red ribbon, the international symbol of AIDS, with a circling world globe. There were iconic photographs of Taylor from various stages in her life and career: from ‘National Velvet,’ her breakthrough film as a child; from the film, ‘Cleopatra’; and an iconic photo from her later years when she was devoting much of her life to advocacy on AIDS. The photos were rendered in black and white, using seeds and grains to capture the effects of a black and white photo.
Now, those three oversize black and white photos of Taylor constructed from seeds and grains for AHF’s Rose Parade float will be incorporated into different floats that will participate in upcoming Gay Pride parades taking place later this spring in West Hollywood, Long Beach and San Francisco.
About AIDS Healthcare Foundation
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 135,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org
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