Picture an epidemic: contemporary culture and HIV

Johnstone, Fiona

Abstract

Dazzling in a crimson prom dress, a young woman sits on an examination couch in a consulting room. In the muted blue shadows to her left, a physician prepares to take a blood sample. The young woman has been cared for by the doctor since she was aged 4 years when she and her mother were diagnosed as HIV positive. At that time, effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) was not yet available; the physician had thought that the girl was unlikely to live long enough to attend her junior prom. This image, Eleven, a self-portrait taken in 2015 by the American artist Kia LaBeija, marks and celebrates her survival to adulthood. While acknowledging the life-saving importance of ART that was introduced on a mass scale in high-income countries in the late 1990s, the image also honours the practices of care undertaken by people living with HIV. As LaBeija has described: “I go to the doctor all the time, to check my CD4 count, see how my viral load is doing. Am I undetectable? How are my organs doing? It's a method of self-care, but not one many people get to see.”

Citation

Johnstone, F. (2024). Picture an epidemic: contemporary culture and HIV. The Lancet, 403(10429), 802-803. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736%2824%2900252-6

• Journal Article Type: Other
• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Feb 13, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-03
• Deposit Date: Aug 2, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 2, 2024
• Journal: The Lancet
• Print ISSN: 0140-6736
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-547X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 403
• Issue: 10429
• Pages: 802-803
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736%2824%2900252-6
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2729089