San Diego Art Project Chronicles Impact of HIV

When Rodney Rodriguez learned that one of his best friends was diagnosed with HIV, the news shocked him and made a distant, stigmatized disease suddenly become personal.

"For a lot of people who are finding out that they have HIV or that someone they love has HIV, it can be a very scary, very difficult experience and a lot of people feel very isolated," he said.

Twelve years ago, he made a promise to give a voice to those marginalized by the stigma of living with HIV. And today; the 30-year-old interviews people both infected or affected by HIV and compiles their stories for his new non-profit, the ArcHIVe Project.

"I wanted to do something that would create a sense of community, a place where someone can come to hear stories and realize that there are other people out there with similar stories to their own," Rodriguez told EDGE.

Based in San Diego, the project began this past year with support from nonprofit Fractured Atlas. Rodriguez and a handful of volunteers collect art and interviews to combat stereotypes and misinformation about HIV and fundraise for service organizations. This past Sunday, May, 22, the project debuted some of its first pieces at a kickoff gala following a screening of Philadelphia.

"The stigmas that are associated with HIV aren't as bad as they were 20-30 years ago, but they're still very prevalent and they still affect people's lives in ways that shouldn't be," said Rodriguez. "It's sad and I feel it's time that someone starts addressing those."

Rodriguez hopes to show the true face of HIV, one that reflects all walks of life and the far-reaching and detrimental effects of stigma.

He interviewed, for example, a teacher who worked with an adopted student who was severely developmentally disabled from years of extreme confinement in an orphanage because she was shunned for having an HIV-positive uncle. "A story like that really inspired me to start talking to more and more people because those aren't things you hear about," said Rodriguez. "That is someone's whose life has been irrecoverably changed and it all has to do with those stigmas and stereotypes."

Interview clips are posted on the ArcHIVe Project Web site, where Rodriguez plans to create a section for users to upload their own stories. The idea is partially inspired by art exhibit and blog PostSecret, which displays anonymously mailed postcards containing intimate secrets.

"It's this totally fascinating thing to me," said Rodriguez. "I love what it has been able to capture from people, especially when they are allowed to have the anonymity. It's amazing what people are willing to share."

The project also focuses on art as an educational medium that tells a story. At the gala, portraits of HIV survivors and an art collection by San Diego Girl Scouts were put on display. The Girl Scouts are part of a unique and unprecedented program focusing on HIV/AIDS awareness.

Rodriguez said more events are being planned. These include monologues based on his interviews, which are pouring in after the gala.

"My project is not a memorial, but a celebration of life trying to record the living experiences of people."

His interviewees usually express relief after sharing their stories.

"The most often quoted statistics are how many people are newly diagnosed and how many people die every year, but the middle gets lost," said Rodriguez. "We don't talk about the 1.2. to 1.3 million people in the U.S. living with HIV right now. That's what I want to talk about. I don't think we'll be able to really end the prejudice and fear until people are willing and able to stand up and share their stories and stop the miseducation."