THE GRAYING OF AIDS: – stories from a graying pandemic | oral history archive

The Graying of AIDS: Stories from an Aging Pandemic 

What does aging with HIV look like? Increased access to antiretroviral therapy is enabling people around the world to live with HIV into their 50s, 60s, and beyond, but we rarely see their faces or hear their stories in the media or popular culture. 

The Graying of AIDS: Stories from an Aging Pandemic is the first-ever documentary project on HIV and aging around the globe. Participatory exhibitions and an online archive feature a growing collection of portraits and interviews that challenge stereotypes about both HIV/AIDS and aging, proving that in increasingly diverse communities and environments, an HIV/AIDS diagnosis need no longer be the “death sentence” it once was. 

Stories from an Aging Pandemic began at the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC, and traveled to AIDS2014 in Melbourne, Australia and AIDS2016 in Durban, South Africa. Participatory documentary installations include a pop-up portrait studio, an interview station, and an evolving gallery of images and quotes. Adults aged 50 and older who self-identify as aging with HIV or AIDS are invited to pose for a formal portrait, while oral history interviews explore similarities and differences in participants’ personal experiences living and aging with the virus around the world. To date, the project has worked with over 100 people from over 17 countries and 4 indigenous nations. 

The Graying of AIDS project is a collaboration with health educator and writer Naomi Schegloff, MPH. 

Please visit the online archive: Stories From an Aging Pandemic