Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996) was a queer Cuban artist who lived with HIV/AIDS. From 1987 to 1991, he was part of Group Material, an artistic collective dedicated to community activism. His work uses simple, everyday materials (stacks of paper, sweets, string lights, puzzles, electric lightbulbs, beads) and a syntax close to that of minimalism and conceptual art in order to shift the poles of identity and gender and the relationships between the public and the private. His works include the series of Portraits where ‘models’ are invited to draw up lists of dates and events linked to their lives and to integrate the changes and reactivations that come with each new exhibition.