HIV-Positive Women Share Their Lives Through Photos

HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - affects more than 30 million people worldwide. About half of them are women. An HIV diagnosis¹ can lead not just to debilitating² medical problems but also to social stigma³ and isolation⁴.
However, a unique photography project is giving some HIV-positive women a new way to look at their disease and its challenges.
Photo challenge
University of Missouri-Columbia researcher Michelle Teti has been doing HIV prevention work in the United States for about 10 years and was struck by what she saw as a mismatch between what public health programs offered and what HIV-positive women said they needed.
"Sometimes HIV wasn't even the biggest priority. They might not have had housing. They might have been in violent relationships," says Teti. "So I decided⁵ to kind of take a step back and find ways to let women identify their health priorities, and identify problems, and identify solutions."
With the help of health organizations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and St. Louis, Missouri, Teti recruited HIV-positive women to participate in a photography project. She gave them digital cameras, taught them how to use them, and sent them out to photograph their lives.
Some women took pictures of themselves. Others photographed people in their support networks, or specific challenges they were facing, like substandard housing. And many, Teti says, used the photographs to show how they had worked to change their lives after being diagnosed with HIV.
"A lot of women - when they found out they were living with this virus - felt kind of desperate or hopeless, and a lot of women described a transition, or transformation⁶, to a place where they were more hopeful and healthy."
Changing lives
That was the case with 26-year-old St. Louis resident Tamika Taylor Jackson, who learned she was HIV-positive in December 2001. Her husband left her while she was in the hospital. Then the bank foreclosed on Jackson's house, leaving her with three young children, and nowhere to live.
"When I first was diagnosed, it was a very hard and emotional thing for me," says Jackson. "And some of the closest people that I thought would be there for me was not there for me because they thought I was just a big disease, a big germ."
Jackson used the photography project to show how she has transformed her life since her diagnosis. She took pictures of the houses she's lived in, her medications and the spiritual books she reads for inspiration.
Shoe inspiration
Jackson also took pictures of her shoes. Not real shoes to wear, but miniature ceramic⁷ ones, in brightly-colored patterns. She has about a dozen of them, prominently displayed on shelves near her front door.
"Every time I've accomplished⁸ something, I always go out and find a shoe to reward myself with. I've made progress, I've stepped up, I've achieved something, so I'm going to go find me a shoe."
The first one was a gold boot.
"And I purchased that when I realized to myself that, 'OK, I want a divorce.' Then came, I believe, the zebra-striped shoe at the top."
Another shoe was for finding a place to live.
A yellow shoe represents the time during which she met her boyfriend. Jackson bought a shoe when she found a better house, got a job, bought a car, and she bought a shoe when she moved into the home she lives in with her children today.
Positive transformation
Researcher Michelle Teti hopes all the women in the photography project can hold on to that feeling of positive transformation.
"They're just really strong women and really just committed to being healthy and being better," says Teti, "and this process allows them to reflect on that."
Participating in the photography project, she adds, can give HIV-positive women a new way to look at their lives, to figure out what they may still want to change, and to congratulate themselves for what they've done right.

1 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

2 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。

3 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

4 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

7 ceramic   

n.制陶业，陶器，陶瓷工艺

参考例句：

• The order for ceramic tiles has been booked in.瓷砖的订单已登记下来了。
• Some ceramic works of art are shown in this exhibition.这次展览会上展出了一些陶瓷艺术品。

8 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。