# FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

## MATERIAL WITNESS opens EXHIBIT 01 — a 500-unit drop that funds frontline HIV response in Texas and Florida

**Dallas, TX — May 2026** — MATERIAL WITNESS, a new curatorial store by writer and editor Taylor Allyn (founder of UNSPUN), has opened **EXHIBIT 01: GUERRE CONTRE L'ABANDON DU VIH** *(War Against HIV Abandonment)*. The exhibit takes the form of a store: 500 numbered objects — shirts, scarves, and archival prints — each routing money directly to HIV rapid-response partners on the ground.

**$40 of every shirt sale** goes to **AIDS Walk South Dallas**, the **Texas Pride Community Foundation**, **Florida-based ADAP rapid-response work**, and **World AIDS Day coalitions**. The presale closes **Friday, June 5, 2026**.

> "EXHIBIT 01 is dated the day after the Dallas Morning News ran its 1990 AIDS coverage. The store is the exhibit, and every purchase is a record of someone refusing the abandonment."
> — Taylor Allyn, founder

### The shirt

The centerpiece of EXHIBIT 01 is a **heavyweight oversized cotton jersey t-shirt**, unisex fit, in natural cream.

- **Front:** the phrase *Guerre Contre L'Abandon Du VIH* (War Against HIV Abandonment), set in editorial serif type.
- **Back:** a full-panel **archival print referencing *The Dallas Morning News*, May 10, 1990 — AIDS Edition**, overlaid with a crimson gradient panel. The print treats the back of the shirt as a page: a record carried in public.
- **Fabric:** 100% heavyweight cotton jersey, pre-shrunk, garment-dyed.
- **Edition:** 500 numbered units. Each shirt ships with a numbered card and care guide.
- **Gift with purchase:** the first 50 orders include a free EXHIBIT 01 silk scarf at checkout.

### Why now

HIV funding in the United States has been quietly hollowed out. ADAP waiting lists are returning. Community organizations in Texas and Florida — the two states with the largest gaps between need and federal coverage — are operating on emergency budgets. MATERIAL WITNESS treats each object in the store as a small, public act of witness, and as a direct transfer of money to the people doing the work.

### About EXHIBIT 01

- **Format:** A curatorial store as exhibit. 500 numbered units.
- **Pieces:**
  - Heavyweight cotton **shirt** with front phrase + Dallas Morning News editorial back print ($40 of each sale donated)
  - Four colorways of silk **scarves** — cream/red, cream/black, red/black, and a typographic edition
  - An **archival print** referencing *The Dallas Morning News*, May 10, 1990 — AIDS Edition
- **Beneficiaries:** AIDS Walk South Dallas · Texas Pride Community Foundation · Florida-based ADAP rapid-response · World AIDS Day coalitions.
- **Presale closes:** Friday, June 5, 2026.
- **Direct giving:** 100% of donations to the COMMON HOLD HIV Response Fund route to the same coalitions.

### About MATERIAL WITNESS

MATERIAL WITNESS is an imprint of UNSPUN, founded by Taylor Allyn. It is a store built on the premise that objects can carry what language sometimes cannot — that a shirt worn in public is a statement made without explanation, and a scarf folded in a drawer is still a record of something someone believed.

### Press contact

**hello@materialwitness.co**
Site: https://materialwitness.co
Press kit & assets: https://materialwitness.co/press

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