The award of our association's first Jonathan Mann Awardfor Human Rights to an artist may surprise some who might have assumed that the award should go to one of Dr. Mann's colleagues who shared his vision and his mission. After all, what does art have to do with human rights or healthcare? Artists, just as physicians, scientists, ethicists, and economists, just as all of us, seek the truth.

Truth as the epistomologists will tell us is a parallel expression of goodness, unity, and beauty. The epistomologists' exposition of the four manifestations of reality are the One, the Good, the True, and the Beautiful -- the same manifestations attributed to God by many theologians.

There are some of us who are graced with a vision of oneness -- of the unity of life -- of the connection between the elements of the natural order. Those who are graced with this gift intuitively understand some of the mysteries of the divine plan, of the natural order, and of the consequences of our failure to understand and respond to these connections. Jonathan Mann was one of those graced with the vision of oneness. It took Jonathan Mann to lead us to a better understanding of the relationship between human rights and AIDS, between human rights and healthcare, and of the consequences of failing to respond to those relationships. Dr. Mann was also graced with the gift of communication. He possessed a singular clarity of message -- a voice
and a style that conjures atavistic memories of Old Testament prophets in its power and conviction.

There are some of us graced with a sense of goodness, and these men and women are compelled to share that goodness with others. Desmond Tutu comes to mind . There are others who are driven to find the truth and to share that truth to benefit the rest of us. Jonas Salk comes to mind. Then there are the artists who are graced and sometimes cursed with the realization of the truth inherent in beauty and the beauty inherent in truth. Like the teacher, the saint, and the scientist, they are compelled to share their gift with the rest of us who often cannot see what they see, or understand what is so intuitive to them.

But great artists like great teachers, great saints, and great scientists achieve their greatness because of their unique ability to share their vision with the rest of us - to let us see what they see. They are compelled to communicate their vision to us.

Daniel Hernández saw the truth in the atrocities committed during the Guatemalan civil war in the bodies that he helped uncover from their secret graves. Daniel Hernández saw the face of God in the remains of the men, women, and children massacred by the Guatemalan army. Daniel Hernández saw the fear in the eyes of his countrymen when confronted by the truth. Daniel Hernández took his truth and his vision of God and translated them through his gifts into images of such singular power that they demand justice and the primacy of human rights in Guatemala -- images that have become icons in the history of the human rights movement. This is the vision of Daniel Hernández.

I am honored to present the 1998 Jonathan Mann Human Rights Award to Daniel Hernández.