Photography reveals hidden lives and gives the unheard a voice

When we talk about HIV and AIDS, more often than not it’s about the incredible numbers of who’ve died or who are now infected with the disease.

We think of the pandemic in somewhat monolithic terms. But the pandemic is in fact a series of epidemics, which affect people and the communities in which they live in different ways.

In some developing countries where HIV rates are still relatively low the epidemic looks a lot like the pattern of infection that exists in much of the developed world. Gay and other men who have sex with men, sex workers and injecting drug users bear the brunt of the disease.

For these groups, community disapproval and social, and in some cases, legal taboos combine with the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and create a damaging cocktail of discrimination. This fuels their risk of infection or exacerbates the impact of HIV if they are already infected. Stigma also silences them, negating their experiences and rendering them invisible, including to government officials and service providers.

I managed a participatory photo project which had the aim of changing that.

Participants - men who have sex with men, sex workers and people living with HIV/AIDS in Cambodia, Ecuador and India - met at workshops where they were given cameras and photographic training by experienced professional photographers. With their new equipment and knowledge, they were asked to use photography to tell the story of their lives and those of their communities. The results are incredible stories and images.

The majority of the photographs and accompanying stories deal directly with the discrimination that is still, unfortunately, so widespread in many countries, such as Ashok's picture of Seema, tended to by friends after he has been beaten by 'rowdies' (an Anglo-Indian word used to describe local street thugs). Or Rapalhi's heartbreakingly simple portrait of Dasu, 'kept separate from his family because of his health'.

There are also deeply distressingly photos. Keerti has taken a picture of her friend Zareena wrapped in burial sheets, a young girl whose short life, filled with rape, prostitution and abuse, ended when she burned herself to death.

Some of the photos and accompanying text articulate hopes for a future free of discrimination, where 'sray sros' - a phrase commonly used by transgender Cambodians, which translates as 'charming girl' - couples could be accepted into society, and where such love could be celebrated.

And just like the fight against AIDS there’s also lots of strength and positivity. Jahaira, from Ecuador who, one suspects would refuse to be cowed by any misfortune says in her description of herself, 'I'm an adventurous and creative spirit. I'm very dynamic and have great aspirations of succeeding and being somebody in life.'

One of the most striking elements of the photographs from Cambodia is the representation and discussion of Anti-AIDS drugs. At the time of the workshops the widespread availability of HIV treatment was relatively new in Cambodia and was clearly a source of hope and optimism for people living with HIV/AIDS.

In addition to the powerful photos and stories, I saw first hand the life changing impact that the workshops had on the participants themselves.

One of the project's aims was to enable those people who are traditionally the subjects of photography to become its creator, giving them both the confidence and practical skills to represent themselves.

And I really believe that the project made an important contribution to building the capacity of each of the individuals at the workshops in exactly that way.

Crucially, the project was part of a much bigger initiative, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which saw the International HIV AIDS Alliance working with community organisations over five years to support action on AIDS by groups of gay men, sex workers and people living with the virus.

The images and text from the project now form ‘Unheard Voices, Hidden Lives’ which takes the form of both an exhibition and a book.

The exhibition has appeared both in the countries where the workshops were held and internationally, including in the atrium of the UK’s Department for International Development and at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

The book has been distributed widely and formed part of the Alliance’s evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into the UK’s response to AIDS around the world.

Participants from each of the countries travelled to the UK for the launch of the book and exhibition and spoke about their experiences both of living with or being affected by HIV and of the impact that being part of Unheard Voices, Hidden Lives has had on them.

All too often AIDS and HIV statistics in developing countries are just that: statistics. The people who make up those numbers, who are directly affected by the virus, and who should be at the forefront of the fight against it, are missing from public discussions about the HIV pandemic. Those people are forgotten by their own governments, health and other service providers in the response to the epidemic, and are all but invisible to the Western world. Unheard Voices, Hidden Lives is one step towards changing that.

You can download or order a copy of the book here: www.aidsalliance.org/sw41295.asp

You can view a slide show of images and text from the project which appeared in The Observer here: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/flash/page/0,,1944668,00.html

The photo used at the top of this post was of Ramesh who says in the accompanying text: "I now live under a tree ... my parents still work because I am of little use." It was taken by Anil.