The New Yorker’s Instagram account has played host to haunting and beautiful photos of HIV positive Bangkok residents over the least few days, courtesy of guest curator Gideon Mendel.
Mendel, a South African photographer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, has been part of a team running Through Positive Eyes, an initiative that gives photography training to 12 local HIV positive participants and asks them to document their own lives.
Check out 10 of these moving photos below, and follow the New Yorker on Instagram for more here.
1. “This is the hand if a person I respect. He’s like an older brother to me. His is a powerful fist that has been through so many experiences.”
2. “Normally you see people from the front. I want to show my back so that nobody can know what I’m thinking. Society has the idea that tattooed people are bad or represent a bad image. But society doesn’t know the whole me.”
3. “I realize that in my life is some good, some bad, but I hope that my photographs allow people to see my goodness, even just a little.”
4. “Before I began taking my HIV medication I looked very sick. My weight was 42 kilograms (92 pounds). I now look so much better. I can go out and work without having to worry.”
5. “I snapped this photo after my boyfriend took his methadone. I didn’t want him to take it. He is old and it makes him tired, but he needs it as therapy. After he takes it I need to help take care of him. I do not dream of him being free of sickness. I just hope he won’t get sicker.”
6. “This photo reminds me of myself, my daughter carrying her child just as I carried her. I got infected with HIV when I got pregnant, at the age of seventeen. I am glad that she was safe and not infected.”
7. “I would never tell people to smoke because once you get addicted it is very difficult to quit. Burning the cigarette is like burning yourself as well. I don’t know what my lungs look like right now.”
8. “Nothing is better than spending time with family. Maybe it’s not a lot, but it makes me happy. In my household, my children and grandchildren do not have any problem with my HIV condition.”
9. “I took this picture with the tripod and self-timer. It shows me practicing my cabaret act with my boyfriend, Koh, holding the light. He takes care of me. He has inspired me to become a more beautiful person inside.”
10. “In order to stay healthy I have to be very careful about the timing of my drugs. I wish there was a cure, so that I would not have to take medicine anymore.”
Photos: The New Yorker Instagram account, Gideon Mendel, Through Positive Eyes Bangkok participants
