A True Personal Story from the Early AIDS Crisis

Personal Storytelling with Creative Projection Photography That Intersects With

Let me take you back… to a time when life was a lot different. Information traveled slowly and people had to take drastic measures to get controversial messages out to the general public. Let’s set the stage:

It’s 1992. A Presidential campaign is ramping up between the republican incumbent, George Bush (Senior) and democratic candidate Bill Clinton. The acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King beating case triggers widespread unrest and rioting in protest of police brutality in Los Angeles and across the nation. The Cold War officially ends the European Union Treaty is signed, and South Africa ends apartheid.

Pee Wee Herman had been disgraced by a bullshit arrest for indecent exposure in a porn theater in Sarasota, FL and a purple dinosaur named Barney had seized the opportunity and become the new King of Children’s Television. Basketball great Magic Johnson returns to play in the 42nd NBA All-Star game in Orlando, FL and is co-captain of the United States men’s Olympic basketball team (The Dream Team) and wins the Olympic gold medal in Barcelona, all after shocking the world with the news he had contracted the HIV virus, which is still considered an inevitable death sentence. And, HIV/AIDS continues to spread and kill.

By the end of 1992, approximately 133,233 Americans had died from AIDS according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 1992 alone, an estimated 33,590 U.S. residents died from HIV infection making it the second leading cause of death among those aged 25-44, according to the CDC. It was also the eighth leading cause of death overall, accounting for 1.5% of all deaths in the US.