Project Description

INFECTED and AFFECTED is a visual study of an HIV/AIDS global community on a mission, expressing its emotions, individually and together, in solidarity, reacting to the stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDS. Collectively, these portraits present to the world a mosaic of dignity and courage that challenges stigma.

Nearly 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. This pandemic has affected nearly every one of us alive today. When a community is stigmatized and discriminated against, it creates a sense of shame, isolation and fear, and it silences individuals. Stigma can be as deadly as the virus itself, hampering awareness and education.

For this project, INFECTED and AFFECTED: Portraits of a Community Combating Stigma, photographer Joan L. Brown asks each of the participants to convey through physical gestures how she or he would fight, communicate love, and express the sadness that surrounds the stigma of HIV/AIDS. It is the diverse responses from the participants and the intensity of the emotions that captivate the viewer. In each photograph, one sees the distinctive nature of subject's clothing, ethnicity and gender, as well as his or her specific reactions to the questions being asked.

In August 2008, Brown photographed nearly 600 people from 76 countries who attended the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Her subjects were both HIV positive and HIV negative.

In July 2009, Brown is scheduled to photograph at the 5TH IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, and at a local HIV Pediatric Service.