"One man's struggle with AIDS"

newspaper article illustration, ink drawing

In the mid 1980s two new and sinister acronyms began appearing in the news - HIV and AIDS. At this time most people knew little or nothing about the syndrome or the consequences it was to have on our lives.

AIDS first came to the attention of the public with the enormous publicity generated by the mysterious illness and death of film star Rock Hudson. It gradually emerged that the disease was highly infectious and more widespread than had been imagined. Fear and confusion spread quickly, especially among gay communities, and it took a while - years in some cases - before governments started public awareness campaigns.

Meanwhile it was left to journalists to explore and explain the disease. Courageously, an American journalist and AIDS sufferer came out with a New York Times article, written as a first-person account of what it was like to live with the condition.

In this illustration I have depicted him as a silhouette standing at his apartment window watching "normal life" going on as usual in the street. He feels isolated from this world, set apart by the stigma of his HIV-positve status.