Daily life with HIV

120 people took photos on one day

by Anthony Glassman

For thirty years, people have been struggling with HIV and AIDS. They have been living every moment of every day knowing that they carry something inside them that could kill them.

Thirty years ago, when it first came to light, it was a death sentence. The end of their lives was coming sooner, not later. By the time they knew they had it, it was too late, and there was nothing to be done.

After three decades of advances in treatment, HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was. It might not be something easily managed, especially for those unable to afford the costly medications, but it is not the immediate and agonizing demise it was even 15 or 20 years ago.

With new breakthroughs come new challenges, and Positively America magazine illustrates these challenges in a new photographic essay, �A Day with HIV in America.�

To create the essay, they asked over 120 people living with HIV to photograph a moment of their day on September 21.

Some of the images are simple, some multifaceted, all powerful. Like the photograph of Kenneth from Indiana, holding his weekly regimen of medications. �This is the first time I have ever submitted a picture of myself acknowledging to the world that I live with HIV,� he notes in the caption.

The essay debuted at the United States Conference on AIDS in Chicago on November 10-13, and 31 images will be published in the magazine. Those who do not get the magazine can also view them online at www.adaywithhivinamerica.com.

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