Portraits of People with AIDS (Portretten van mensen met AIDS)

The author criticizes the stereotyping done by photojournalists
and art-photographers depicting People with AIDS. Analyzing
Nicolas Nixon's and Rosalind Solomon's pictures of People with
AIDS, and Stashu Kybartas videotape 'Danny', the author
concludes that: 'there is a deep explanation for portrayal of
People with AIDS (PWA's), and especially of gay male PWA's, as
deseperately ill...These images are not intended to overcome our
fear of disease and death.. nor are they ment to reinforce
(them) as victim or pariah...rather, they are 'phobic' images..
(maintaining) the comfortable fantasy that AIDS would spell the
end of gay promiscuity, or perhaps of gay sex altogether, which
has pervaded American and Western European culture for a decade
now.'


Citaten:
Sekula, A.: Dismantling Modernism, Reinventing Documentary (1984)
Baudrillard, J.: Virtuelle Katastrophen (interv.)(Kunstforum 1990,jan-feb)