Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Giving HIV a face: Photo essay tackles stigmas
2010-11-17

This article shared 4952 times since Wed Nov 17, 2010
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


By Helen Adamopoulos

They wake up in the morning smiling. They get dressed and take the bus to work. They go shopping at Trader Joe's, pay their bills and walk their dogs. They go to church, play with their kids and grow enormous pumpkins in their gardens. They are people living with HIV.

Positively Aware, a magazine published by Chicago's Test Positive Aware Network ( TPAN ) , depicts people affected by HIV taking part in all of these activities and more in the photo essay "A Day with HIV in America" in its November/December issue. The pictures show people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds and all ages going about their daily routines in communities from New York to Los Angeles. Positively Aware editor Jeff Berry said the point of the essay is to create a sense of community and humanize HIV.

"It will really put a face on the epidemic," Berry said. "I hope it will chip away at some of the stigma."

The 26-photo essay features snapshots people around the country took Sept. 21. Berry said the magazine received more than 100 submissions. Participants also wrote captions for their pictures, sharing details about their lives.

"I was really astounded by the variety and diversity," Berry said. "It was actually very moving. So often we just hear about statistics."

One photo that stuck with Berry features Ann Wright and her HIV-positive twin girls, Sade and Mya. Each grinning girl holds a black poodle in her arms. The caption says they want to be veterinarians. Another photo shows Jennifer Jako, who has been HIV-positive for 20 years, pushing her 4-year-old daughter Bianca—mouth open in an ecstatic smile, hair flying—on a swing. Bianca was born HIV-negative because of highly active antiretroviral therapy ( HAART ) .

"Stories like that, they're so powerful and yet so everyday," Berry said. "It makes me want to just continue to try to tell these stories."

The project began at a Positively Aware planning meeting last August as part of a discussion about what the magazine should do for World AIDS Day Dec. 1. Berry said Positively Aware Art Director Rick Guasco came up with the idea. Despite the lack of time and tight budget, Berry writes in his editor's note for the November/December issue that they proceeded "full-tilt boogie" with the project.

Berry said that aside from himself and Guasco, Operations and IT Coordinator Josh Thorne and Editorial Assistant Sue Saltmarsh worked on the photo essay. They created the Web site adaywithhiv.com as well as a Facebook page and a Twitter account to advertise the project.

Berry said he and Guasco decided which photos to print in the magazine as part of the five-page essay. All of the submissions can be viewed at adaywithhiv.com .

"We tried to choose those which really reflected what the project was about and showed diversity," Berry said.

Evany Turk—who manages the Positive Adherence and Stable Housing Now ( PASHN ) medication adherence program at the Chicago House and Social Service Agency—is one of the 26 whose photos were printed. The picture shows Turk and her sons—6-year-old Kywon Nelson and 17-year-old DeShawn Turk—in front of their house before they left for school.

"My family is my motivation for living and doing good and trying to change," Turk said. "I have to take care of them, so I have to keep myself healthy. That's what a day with HIV for me is. All the things I do in a day, I do to better my kids' life."

Cyber activist Robert Breining, who also has a photo in the magazine, said it's a great idea to send the message that HIV-positive people aren't that different from those who don't have it. In his picture, Breining holds a 45-pound pumpkin he and his partner grew in their garden in Levittown, Penn.

"Everybody thinks that we're this skinny person that lies in bed taking their medicine," Breining said. "It just shows we're normal people."

Breining reaches out to others with HIV through his Web site PozIAm.com . He said that if people with HIV aren't comfortable with their status, then others won't be either.

Berry agrees that people who are positive need to identify themselves without fear of being ostracized. He said educating people and raising awareness will help reduce the stigma.

"A lot of it's just based on fear, but also ignorance about how the virus is transmitted," Berry said. "We need to bring the discussion up and not be afraid to come forward."

Berry said that although they do not have any definite plans, the Positively Aware staff members are considering making the photo essay an ongoing project. For more information about TPAN and Positively Aware, visit tpan.com and positivelyaware.com .


This article shared 4952 times since Wed Nov 17, 2010
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

HIV criminal laws disproportionately impact Black men in Mississippi 2024-02-21
--From a press release - A new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that at least 43 people in Mississippi were arrested for HIV-related crimes between 2004 and 2021. Half of all arrests in the state ...


Gay News

'West Side Story' gets a sex-positive spin with new burlesque show 2024-02-19
- In partial observance of National Condom Day, which was Feb. 14, Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) presented A West Side Story Burlesque at the Harris Theater for two hour-long performances on Feb. 17. The show, ...


Gay News

$200,000+ raised at AIDS Foundation Chicago's World of Chocolate Fundraiser to fight HIV/AIDS 2024-02-13
--From a press release - (Chicago, IL) More than 950 guests gathered at Chicago's famed Union Station (500 W. Jackson) for Chicago's Sweetest Fundraiser, AIDS Foundation Chicago's (AFC), World of Chocolate on Friday, February 9. ...


Gay News

Munar prepares to step away from Howard Brown leadership 2024-02-11
- After 10 years of leadership at Howard Brown Health, President and CEO David Ernesto Munar has decided to step down from his post on Feb. 29. Munar, who'd previously been president and CEO of AIDS Foundation ...


Gay News

National Black Justice Coalition commemorates National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2024-02-07
--From a press release - WASHINGTON — Today, Feb. 7, marks National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). In commemoration, Dr. David J. Johns, CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), a leading Black LGBTQ+/same-gender ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Wis. report, gender dysphoria, HIV research, Stonewall exhibit, gay CEOs 2024-01-19
- A new annual report from Wisconsin's Office of Children's Mental Health shows that the state's minors—especially girls, children of color and LGBTQ+ youth—continue to struggle with anxiety, depression and thoughts ...


Gay News

WORLD Activist honored, marriages in Estonia, Madrid law, trans sports item 2024-01-05
Video below - The National AIDS Commission (NAC) recently honored Caleb Orozco—a leading figure in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Belize—for his instrumental contributions to the national HIV response, BNN reported. According ...


Gay News

SAVOR World of Chocolate, Jaleo and 'Superhot' 2023-12-31
- World of wonder: I am excited to announce that I will be a judge at AIDS Foundation Chicago's World of Chocolate fundraiser! Join me in sampling delicious chocolate from local chefs and help support a great ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Frankie Franklin-Foxx 2023-12-18
- Frankie Franklin-Foxx (born Waverlynn Franklin), a resident of Chicago's North Side, passed away peacefully Dec. 13 at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. She was 68. Born at Cook County Hospital, Frankie graduated from South Shore High ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Dr. Rachel Levine, World AIDS Day, trans deaths, Philly bar art 2023-12-08
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Liles C. Burke ruled that emails and other records from U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine are relevant to a lawsuit challenging Alabama's ban ...


Gay News

STRUT marks World AIDS Day with 14th Annual Fashion Show 2023-12-05
- On Dec. 3, John Fleming and Madman Productions presented the 14th annual STRUT fashion show at Joe's on Weed Street, 940 W. Weed St. As in previous years, the standing room only show was a fundraiser, ...


Gay News

World AIDS Day commemorated at AIDS Garden Chicago 2023-12-03
- On the rainy morning of Dec. 1, Chicago Parks Foundation and the AIDS Garden Chicago Board of Directors hosted a World AIDS Day commemoration at AIDS Garden Chicago, just south of Belmont Harbor on the Lakefront. ...


Gay News

GLAAD marks World AIDS Day with launch of global resource hub, new HIV report 2023-12-01
--From a press release - New York, New York — Friday, Dec. 1 — GLAAD marked World AIDS Day this year by sharing the results of its fourth annual State of HIV Stigma Report, a national survey among U.S. adults measuring ...


Gay News

Wrightwood 659 to present 'Daniel Goldstein: The Marks We Leave Behind' on World AIDS Day 2023-11-29
- (CHICAGO, Nov. 29, 2023) —Alphawood Exhibitions will present Daniel Goldstein: The Marks We Leave Behind, an exhibition of works from the San Francisco-based artist & HIV/AIDS activist's iconic "Icarian Series," ...


Gay News

WTTW doc chronicles the activism of Danny Sotomayor 2023-11-03
- Practically everything the late Chicago AIDS activist Danny Sotomayor did was "a fight." So says fellow activist Victor Salvo in the new WTTW documentary The Outrage of Danny Sotomayor, which is part of the station's Chicago ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.