Through Positive Eyes

Through Positive Eyes is a collaborative photo-storytelling project by 130 people living with HIV and AIDS around the world. This global photographic collaboration with Gideon Mendel and the UCLA Art & Global Health Center chronicles a very particular moment in the epidemic, when effective treatment is available but far from universal, and the enduring stigma associated with HIV and AIDS has become entrenched. Through Positive Eyes addresses this stigma, social inequality, and limited access to medication through the voices of those experiencing it. The participants in the project have volunteered to tell their stories and create their own artistic statements, empowering themselves in order to banish stigma.

“Over 10 years, more than 130 HIV-positive people across five continents have taken part [in the Through Positive Eyes project], many of whom picked up cameras for the first time in their lives.” —The Guardian “Since 2007, the Through Positive Eyes workshops have put cameras in the hands of people living with HIV and taught them to express their lives and fight stigma through photography.” —Trenton Straube, POZ

Gideon Mendel (editor) is a South African photographer who has responded to key social and environmental issues around the world, particularly the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He is the creator of Drowning World, an art and advocacy project in response to climate change. David Gere (editor) Ph.D., is director of the UCLA Art & Global Health Center, where he is professor of arts activism and organizer of projects under the MAKE ART/STOP AIDS banner.Richard Gere (foreword) is an actor and a dedicated humanitarian who works on behalf of Tibetan causes, the homeless, and people living with HIV and AIDS.Mary Bowman (poet) was a poet, singer, spoken word artist, and AIDS activist based in Washington, D.C. Born HIV-positive, she died in 2019 at the age of thirty.