“The story began for me in 1993 when I photographed in the AIDS wards at the Middlesex Hospital in London. All the patients I met, many of whom were young, gay men, were facing the terrifying prospect of an early and painful death. My images focus on four patients […]. They were some of the unlucky ones, who became sick just before life-saving antiretroviral treatments became available. Considering the extreme levels of stigma and fear that existed back then, their decision to allow themselves to be photographed, alongside their lovers, families and friends, was an act of remarkable bravery […]. The work was made originally as part of the Positive Lives group project, produced for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Terence Higgins Trust in 1993 [...]. So for The Ward Revisited exhibition at The Fitzrovia Chapel I made this new single-channel large screen video installation that is both a visceral depiction of the effects of HIV/AIDS on the lives of the individuals in the photographs, as well as a much broader questioning of the essence of photography, along with its multi-faceted relationship to memory, trauma and death” --From artist’s website.
Created for: The Ward Revisited by Gideon Mendel. Exhibition at The Fitzrovia Chapel. 6 Jan – 5 Feb, 2023.