5 Days in Bangkok

I seroconverted early in the pandemic, when this illness did not yet own its final name. No one knew how to deal with it. I believed my life was over. I was terrified, confused and suicidal. The question was: Could I find a way to live with AIDS?

Diagnosed in 1985, not knowing who to talk to about it and fearing that my life would soon end, I was lost in a fog of loneliness and despair, until I began to speak about my condition with Dr. Andrew Zysman, my late cousin, who was also HIV positive. He encouraged me to turn my photographic interest toward documenting the history of AIDS.

There was much to be learned by following this path. By attending AIDS conferences around the world, beginning in 1989 at Montreal, I developed a career as a photojournalist. That surprised me, because I didn’t believe that I could do anything with a death sentence imposed upon me. My interest in life was rekindled. I learned how to better cope with my illness.

Though I grieve for all the people I’ve met, known, loved and lost in this struggle for survival, I am at once a member of the global AIDS community and a recorder of the evidence we witness in AIDS health care issues, politics, activism, business and society. This makes the spectre of AIDS easier to bear.

Any person living with HIV/AIDS can empower his or herself by cultivating their personal means of expression. This may benefit the psyche and strengthen the will to live. We all have a point of view about the subject of AIDS, and it is important for everyone who can to make their voice heard, whether in the arts or by helping others.

This past summer, at the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok — the 10th one I’ve attended — I had the opportunity to meet other Canadians who actively dedicate their human talent to fight HIV/AIDS and its terrible effects. Here are some of them.

1 Buddha. 2 Craig McClure & Ian Grubb. 3 Dr. Mark Wainberg. 4 Dr. Jonathan Luetkehoelter & Dr. Tom Lampinen. 5 (clockwise from left) Glen Brown, Bill Flanagan, Ron Rosenes, Louise Binder. 6 Ron Rosenes & Brian Huskins. 7 Stephen Lewis. 8 Rolake Nwagwu & Ian Grubb. 9 Jacob Peters.