Through Positive Eyes, an exhibition of photos and stories by people living with HIV and AIDS, was meant to launch at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center in Seattle, in July 2020, starting with an intensive ten-day training workshop. This training was intended to support a group of people living with HIV, in learning how to share their stories and photographic images to confront the stigma associated with the illness. On account of COVID-19, the expected workshop had to be reconsidered. The result was an extended five-month version of the group workshop, augmented by individual sessions, during which the cohort bonded as a collective, considered various aspects of their HIV stories, and developed unique visual approaches and individual photographic voices.
“The results have exceeded our expectations,” commented Gideon Mendel, co-director of the Through Positive Eyes project. “An amazingly rich and diverse set of images has emerged—both creatively astonishing and politically powerful. This moment, when we are all so concerned about the COVID virus, reminds us of the continued challenges that people living with the HIV virus are still facing around the world.”
The original intention was for the photo-stories to be presented live in the galleries of the Gates Foundation Discovery Center, for school and community groups, and for members of the public. With the closure of all museum spaces in Seattle, these “Banishing Stigma” presentations have been moved online. Groups and especially school groups from anywhere in the world are able to sign up by visiting the Discovery Center’s website.
King County/Seattle's AIDS Epidemic, as of 2019
- Number of people living with HIV (diagnosed cases)
- 7,056
- New infections
- 183
- AIDS-related deaths
- 5,538 cumulative deaths (1981-2019)
HIV Prevalence
- Gay men and other men who have sex with men
- 8.9%
- People who inject drugs
- 1-4%
- American Indian/Alaska Native Populations
- 0.49%
- Black and African-American Populations
- 1%
- Latinx Populations
- 0.46%
Treatment
- % people living with HIV aware of their status
- 94%
- % engaged in care
- 91%
- % viral load undetectable
- 85%
- PrEP use among high risk MSM
- 47%
Key Events
- 1981
- First diagnosed case in Seattle.
- 1987
- People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) is established to educate gay men of color about safe sex, AIDS awareness, and treatment.
- 1988
- AIDS Omnibus Act protecting civil rights of people living with HIV and mandating AIDS education in state schools is passed.
- 1989
- BABES Network is created to serve and support women living with HIV.
- 1992
- Bailey-Boushay House, the nation's first long-term care facility and outpatient health program for people living with AIDS in the country, opens.
- 2007
- Seattle-born Timothy Ray Brown becomes the first HIV patient to be cured of the infection through stem cell transplants.
- 2015
- King County becomes the first urban county in the United States to reach the World Health Organization's "90-90-90" objective: 90% of all persons infected with HIV know of their infection; 90% of that population is being treated, and 90% of those people on antiretroviral therapy are virally suppressed.
- 2015
- The AMP: AIDS Memorial Pathway is designed to create a space for remembrance, to share stories of the epidemic, and to provide a call to action to end HIV/AIDS, stigma, and discrimination.
Alora
It was the early 1980s or maybe the late 1970s. Could have been in India at the ashram. Or Oregon, on the ranch. Or maybe in LA after an evening at the skate rink, dancing and leaving it all on the …
Andrew
One day at a local thrift store, I found a jigsaw puzzle in its original sealed plastic bag, but no box. I felt a slight bit of apprehension about doing a puzzle without a picture, but I was more …
Bill
The story of my life, sadly, is not a unique one in Native American culture. This story can be told in a thousand different ways, each story representing an individual who suffered the same …
C.L.
CLEAN The paper-shredder bay Rips up sunset And spills it on the horizon A severed worm still wriggling I am lacerated by love 20 sailboats slice across the Duwamish her face miraculously unscarred …
Edward
Telling one's story isn’t easy. It’s hard to push the words out knowing someone is going to hear, read it, and maybe even tell someone else about it and give their opinions. The problem is …
Hugo
I'm a ghost you can see.* Lately I've been thinking a lot about stigma and what it means to live under its shadow. Stigma for a boy is not acting like one. Stigma for a citizen is wanting to abandon …
Julene
The Work: Grief-Work, Hope-Work, Love-Work We long term survivors, the first cohort of people with HIV/AIDS, live on full alert. We received our diagnosis before the cocktail approach; before …
Kelly G.
I feel like I’m in a constant state of transition. Always. Life has been like an M.C. Escher. Nonstop staircases. From infancy to toddlership, to childhood, to adolescence, to tweenhood, to teenager, …
Kelly H.
It’s interesting when I realize that living with HIV is the most manageable part of my life. I’m fortunate to have access to medication that keeps my HIV undetectable, which allows me to attend to …
Kia
At one point in my life, having HIV meant that I would have to settle—settle in love, in life, and happiness. But in the end, it turns out I didn’t have to settle after all. I came from a very …
Pat
Welcome to the whirling vortex of 2020. Covid 19, the plague of our time has killed over a million people in the world, over 200,000 in the United States. There is no end in sight. Covid 19 has …
Positively Positive
I was born queer, asexual, aromantic; sometimes, I do wonder if my HIV-positive status since birth and my childhood trauma contributed to my asexuality and aromantic identities. I lived 25 years as a …
Supporters
Through Positive Eyes in Seattle was organized in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center and Storytellers for Change. Major funding was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with ongoing support from The Herb Ritts Foundation.