30 Years/ 30 Lives
As the world community approaches the thirtieth year of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, “30 Years / 30 Lives” aims to recalibrate our vision by introducing viewers to thirty individuals in the United States, South Africa, Thailand, and Mexico whose lives have intersected in some way with HIV/AIDS, whether through care for or loss of a loved one, engagement in humanitarian response, or an infection.
The project presents portraits of the 30 participants in still life arrangements, in combination with stories each one has handwritten into a common journal, an ivy, a flower, and a candle, to help the public see the faces behind the statistics, and to gain insight into the social realities in which HIV/AIDS becomes manifest. Thirty short essays accompany the still-life photographs: ten essays will be written about “AIDS at 30,” sharing more about the structural problems feeding this public health crisis of the modern day; ten essays will be posted about the work of organizations responding to the various ways in which the pandemic proliferates; and ten essays will be written about how the theological tradition, particularly given an understanding of “Beauty,” informs the conversation. To learn more, visit the project as it develops online: http://30years30lives.org.