By Ted Kerr via xtra.ca
WORLD AIDS DAY / Body maps allow PWAs to tell their stories of challenges and successes
The "bodies" of three gay men living with HIV are hanging in HIV Edmonton's boardroom. Their naked figures are vivid with colour, honesty and expression. They are hard to ignore with graphic stories emerging from their flesh the longer you stare at them — soon you learn that this is the point.
The "bodies" are actually body maps, a self-portrait art form in which the traced self becomes a shell to express one's lived experience. They were created this fall during a three-day workshop organized by HIV Edmonton in a rural Alberta retreat.
The body maps, along with a new report by the Canadian Council on Learning informed in part by consultations done in Edmonton, provide a current understanding of what it is like to be living with HIV.
As you look closer at the body maps, details start to emerge: dates, viral load counts, names of loved ones, markers of places, icons and mentions of possible mentors. Body parts begin to take shape and scars both physical and otherwise begin to pop out in the form of symbols, colors and patterns. The life-size self-portraits are more than maps of the men's bodies; they are maps of their lives...
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image: SELF-PORTRAITS. One of the body maps on display at the HIV Edmonton.
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