Image 054 - Grief in the Face of AIDS
“Keeping In Touch” project for the Arkansas AIDS Foundation. This portrait of compassion in the face of AIDS was taken by Andrew in the 1980’s. Andrew tells of the project and this woman’s grief,
“I was invited to produce an exhibit as an educational tool around aids. It was during the time when people were terrified about aids and terrified about people who had AIDS and homophobic things in connection with people who had aids. I was invited to photograph people who had AID/ HIV Positive, people who had lost family members, who had lost lovers, or people who were just concerned and trying to do something to help.
There were organizations that helped with this cause. In this case the Arkansas AIDS Foundation. This one in particular was an advocacy organization that was trying to make things work better. So what we did was we had a private gathering in my studio with people who fit that criteria. Basically anyone who fit that criteria or who cared enough to be a part of it. There were a lot of people who came to it who were AIDS/HIV positive or people who had lost loved ones and we would have a conversation. We recorded those conversations and then we put together an exhibit of photographs that I had taken and excerpts from the conversations and it was used by this organization as an educational tool at malls and high schools and they would educate people that this wasn’t something they needed to be afraid of and encourage a more compassionate view….
…Her son had died of AIDS in San Fransisco. He was gay and had gone to SF and had contracted HIV/AIDS and had died of it. She went to San Fransisco and cared for him and became really involved in the community there and talked about the funeral services and talked about how much support the people in the community gave each other and how active this particular church was there in supporting people with AIDS or who were testing positive for HIV.
She was a friend of mine from the Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock. She had been crying for like a half an hour when I took this picture. She was still deeply mourning the loss of her son and not just her son but so many of the people she had met while she was in San Francisco.”
-Andrew Kilgore
All images are giclée printed on 17" x 22” 100% cotton rag, acid-free paper with archival inks.
Image 054 - Grief in the Face of AIDS
“Keeping In Touch” project for the Arkansas AIDS Foundation. This portrait of compassion in the face of AIDS was taken by Andrew in the 1980’s. Andrew tells of the project and this woman’s grief,
“I was invited to produce an exhibit as an educational tool around aids. It was during the time when people were terrified about aids and terrified about people who had AIDS and homophobic things in connection with people who had aids. I was invited to photograph people who had AID/ HIV Positive, people who had lost family members, who had lost lovers, or people who were just concerned and trying to do something to help.
There were organizations that helped with this cause. In this case the Arkansas AIDS Foundation. This one in particular was an advocacy organization that was trying to make things work better. So what we did was we had a private gathering in my studio with people who fit that criteria. Basically anyone who fit that criteria or who cared enough to be a part of it. There were a lot of people who came to it who were AIDS/HIV positive or people who had lost loved ones and we would have a conversation. We recorded those conversations and then we put together an exhibit of photographs that I had taken and excerpts from the conversations and it was used by this organization as an educational tool at malls and high schools and they would educate people that this wasn’t something they needed to be afraid of and encourage a more compassionate view….
…Her son had died of AIDS in San Fransisco. He was gay and had gone to SF and had contracted HIV/AIDS and had died of it. She went to San Fransisco and cared for him and became really involved in the community there and talked about the funeral services and talked about how much support the people in the community gave each other and how active this particular church was there in supporting people with AIDS or who were testing positive for HIV.
She was a friend of mine from the Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock. She had been crying for like a half an hour when I took this picture. She was still deeply mourning the loss of her son and not just her son but so many of the people she had met while she was in San Francisco.”
-Andrew Kilgore
All images are giclée printed on 17" x 22” 100% cotton rag, acid-free paper with archival inks.