Not Me - Not Mine (16 images)

NOT ME - NOT MINE
Women, Girls and HIV

Leonie Marinovich’s series of portraits are the catalyst for a discussion in which urban African women speak frankly about the nuances and strategies of living with their HIV status.

Marinovich has long been photographing people in rural communities who are living with the HIV virus, and this collaboration with UNAIDS was an opportunity to chat about the things people usually don’t discuss about HIV, and for...
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NOT ME - NOT MINE
Women, Girls and HIV

Leonie Marinovich’s series of portraits are the catalyst for a discussion in which urban African women speak frankly about the nuances and strategies of living with their HIV status.

Marinovich has long been photographing people in rural communities who are living with the HIV virus, and this collaboration with UNAIDS was an opportunity to chat about the things people usually don’t discuss about HIV, and for women of all ages to speak about their life experiences.

One of the most emphasized themes to emerge was that of image, self-image and how they wish to present themselves to the world. The interplay between these intimate stories and the confident, comfortable manner that these women offer themselves to the photographer’s camera are yet again a journey into the complexity of life, emotion and self-image

National surveys show that women know less than men about how HIV is transmitted and how to prevent HIV infection. What little they know is often rendered ineffective by the discrimination and violence they face, and their powerlessness to refuse sex or to negotiate safer sex. The societal norms of femininity and masculinity, biological factors, economic vulnerability and violence contribute to women’s particular vulnerability to HIV.

In an effort to highlight the exceptional vulnerability to HIV of women and girls, UNAIDS Regional Support team for Eastern and Southern Africa commissioned a photographic essay and two documentary films that intimately explore the interrelation between women and HIV.

On the primary level, the essay looks at the point of infection: women who have contracted HIV through sexual violence, women who have contracted HIV due to infidelity in long-term committed relationships, young women who were born with HIV, women who have infected unsuspecting partners, women who have contracted HIV through their work as sex workers and so on. As a body of work, however the photographs paint a vivid picture of the underlying factors that expose women to HIV infection.
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