MORE TO ME THAN HIV by Glenn Stevens

Last year I was so lucky to work with a team of like-minded people to create the More to Me Than HIV project. Our plans kept changing and developing as we faced the challenge of creating the project in the face of Covid-19.

But as we carried on, more restrictions came into play which meant we had to postpone the photo exhibition planned at Jubilee Library. However, we re-planned the event and ended up with a fantastic online exhibition, created by our talented team member, David Fray.

At the very beginning we knew it would be a hard sell, asking people living with HIV+ diagnoses to submit their portraits along with two other images that showed another side of who they are. In the end 21 people sent in their images and helped make a powerful statement, which was: living with an HIV+ diagnosis is nothing to be ashamed of.

However, we also heard back from a lot of people living with HIV+ who said as much as they applauded the project, there was no way they could ‘come out’ about their status.

Much of the HIV+ fear and stigma comes from misinformation and ideas from the past, which is why the team behind the More to Me Than HIV project have been so passionate in changing the narrative of what it means to live with an HIV+ diagnosis in 2021 and beyond

This ranged from what people at work may think, to fears of being rejected from family to others who see their HIV+ status as something very private and for no one else to know about.

The main word that accompanied many of their statements was stigma, the fear of what others would think of them.

This is something I and most of the team behind the More to Me Than HIV project can very much relate too, from having first-hand experience of HIV stigma ourselves.

Much of the HIV+ fear and stigma comes from misinformation and ideas from the past, which is why the team behind the More to Me Than HIV project have been so passionate in changing the narrative of what it means to live with an HIV+ diagnosis in 2021 and beyond.

Of course, living with HIV will bring up a host of issues, but stigma should not be one of them.

The More to Me Than HIV project had a brilliant response from many people at its launch on World AIDS Day 2020. For more info on how to get involved, visit www.moretomethanhiv.life and together we can build on this project and encourage more people to shake off the shackles of stigma.