Townspeople is proud to present the 4th annual From the HeART, our community art installation dedicated to uplifting HIV+ women and femmes in San Diego! This year’s display features more than 70 handmade hearts from Townspeople’s staff, community, and supporters.Â
From the HeART is on display beginning in March 2026 from our windows facing El Cajon Boulevard.
Why We Care
Women and femmes living with HIV often experience isolation and stigma, and face specific challenges around relationships, parenthood, and healthcare. As a minority of cases in San Diego County, the unique needs and experiences of HIV+ women and femmes in our community can be overshadowed. The goals of From the HeART are to engage individuals and communities in San Diego in acts that uplift and show love and care to women and femmes in San Diego who are living with HIV.
From the HeART is an art project inspired by LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN, an ongoing project established by Visual AIDS in 2013 that’s grown to become an international series of events celebrating HIV+ women and femmes.
New for 2026: From the HeART in Townspeople’s Little Free Art Gallery
We’re excited to expand the From the HeART installation into our Little Free Art Gallery permanently hosted in the front yard of our Shared Housing property on Meade Avenue!
Launched in August 2025, our Free Little Art Gallery is a tiny but mighty space for creativity and connection that welcomes community members to leave art while also inviting them to take home a piece of art on display.
Past artworks contributed by Townspeople participants and extended community members include hanging origami, tiny canvas paintings, lithograph prints, painted wooden figures, and more!
From the HeART: How to Participate
We’re continuing to collect hearts in March, to add to our installations. To participate, simply bring or send us artwork in the shape of a heart, and we’ll include it in one of our installations—
- For inclusion in our window display on El Cajon Boulevard: Feel free to print out our heart template, cut it out and decorate it outright or use it as a stencil on construction paper or card stock. Decorate the heart however you like—with your choice of colors and embellishments, and with positive messages, poems, favorite inspirational quotes, and words. You’re welcome to write your name and Instagram handle on the back of the heart if you’d like a shout out on our social media platforms!Â
- For inclusion in our Little Free Art Gallery on Meade Avenue: We’re accepting little artworks no larger than 3″ wide x 4″ tall in a variety of mediums, from little canvas paintings and relief prints, to origami, to fiber work, to little sculptures—whatever your care inspires you to make.
Please drop off artwork(s) during our regular business hours or mail them to Townspeople at 2047 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104 before March 23, 2026 for it to be included in our art displays in March.
Feel free to make more than one piece of artwork, to enlist family and friends to make hearts, or even host a From the HeART art-making party!
No act is too small. Together, we can show women and femmes living with HIV in San Diego that they are seen, valued, and loved.