What does aging with HIV look like? Increased access to antiretroviral therapy is enabling people around the world to live with HIV into their 50s, 60s, and beyond, but we rarely see their faces or hear their stories in the media or popular culture.
This collection of portraits and testimonies was produced during three participatory installations at the international AIDS conferences, AIDS2012 in Washington, DC, USA, AIDS2014 in Melbourne, Australia, and AIDS2016 in Durban, South Africa.
The Graying of AIDS: Stories from an Aging Pandemic is the first-ever documentary project on HIV and aging around the globe. Participatory exhibitions and the resulting online archive featuring a collection of portraits and interviews challenge stereotypes about both HIV/AIDS and aging, proving that in increasingly diverse communities and environments, an HIV/AIDS diagnosis need no longer be the “death sentence” it once was.
Stories from an Aging Pandemic is a collaboration between documentary photographer Katja Heinemann and health educator and writer Naomi Schegloff, MPH, that began at AIDS2012 in Washington, DC, and traveled to AIDS2014 in Melbourne, Australia and AIDS2016 in Durban, South Africa. Participatory documentary installations included a pop-up portrait studio, an interview station, and an evolving gallery of images and quotes. Adults aged 50 and older who self-identify as aging with HIV or AIDS were invited to pose for a formal portrait, while targeted oral history interviews explored similarities and differences in participants’ personal experiences living and aging with the virus around the world. In all, the project has worked with over 100 people from over 17 countries and 4 indigenous nations.
The Graying of AIDS project began in 2006 with a journalistic examination of what it means to age with HIV/AIDS in the United States. As of 2010, an outreach component was added with the aim of engaging, educating, and supporting those living and aging with HIV, as well as those working with them in health, social service, and health policy fields.
When the International AIDS Conference came to the U.S. for the first time in almost 20 years in 2012, we seized the opportunity to expand our focus to explore the stories and perspectives of people aging with HIV/AIDS around the globe.
This collection of oral histories is presented in collaboration with AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA). With special thanks to the women and staff of Iris House and the staff and clients of ACRIA who worked with us before we headed to DC to test possible approaches to portraiture and interviewing, and shared their own experiences of aging with the viru