is a long-term photographic
project dedicated to increasing public awareness
of the global impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and
to raising funds for non-profit organizations providing
HIV prevention and treatment in India.
The goal of the project is to create
exhibits, lectures and publications as well as a website
to be used for public, academic and corporate educational
purposes in order to :
- raise funds for non-profit organizations
providing AIDS
- prevention, education and treatment
- bring attention to the increasing
numbers and unique problems of AIDS orphans
- alleviate some of the stigma and
discrimination of people living with AIDS through
use of positive images
- increase public awareness in the
Western world of the global impact of the AIDS epidemic
In 2005, I received an artist fellowship from the Global
Arts Village in New Delhi to document stories of HIV/AIDS
in India. That enabled me to photograph, over a four
month period, projects of several non-profit organizations
including those providing care for AIDS orphans; an
MSM (men who have sex with men) support group; community
outreach programs; pre-natal clinics focused on prevention
of maternal-child transmission of HIV and treatment
of HIV in the military.
Photographs taken at clinics, government
hospitals and the AIDS research division of MGR Medical
University in south India were exhibited in 4 large
collages at the Fifth International AIDS Conference
in Chennai. The MSM photographs, which reflect both
human rights and gay rights issues, were exhibited
in the San Francisco LGBT Center during gay pride month,
June 2006. The AIDS orphans images have been exhibited
in New Delhi, at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
and at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania,
coincident with World AIDS Day 2006. I participated
in educational programs at both
Allegheny and Geneseo (SUNY) for World AIDS Day 2006.
An exhibition and presentation will be given in Berkeley,
CA, for World Aids Day 2007.
It is my intention to continue and develop this project
using my photographs for both educational and fund-raising
purposes.
Presentations will be given at schools, corporations
and churches in order to raise awareness of the impact
of HIV/AIDS on local and global communities.
This website: ForgottenFacesofAIDS.org will serve as
both an educational and fundraising site for HIV/AIDS
projects
in India.
My project, Forgotten Faces of AIDS, is directed at both
exposing and transforming the reality of HIV/AIDS in
India, where the subject of AIDS is both controversial
and stigmatizing. Telling the story over and over again
with vivid images is essential if preventive measures
are to be successful and life saving treatment made available
to all. My photographs are part of the visual messages
of AIDS which will make a difference in the lives of
people in the rural villages and urban areas of India.
|
