Positive Life NSW

A Body of KnowledgeOver the past few years, Positive Women Victoria has been empowering their members and raising the awareness of the general public about women and HIV/AIDS through the creative arts. This year they are presenting the photographic and text exhibition called A Body of Knowledge

A Body of Knowledge is a compilation of photographs and text created by world renowned photographer Michael Coyne, in collaboration with award winning writer Graham Pitts and members of Positive Women Victoria. Included in the exhibition are images of HIV negative women. Can you the viewer tell who is positive amongst the group?

Michael Coyne recently wrote about his experience of the project in the Black Star Rising Blogzine: “My experience with photographing AIDS in different parts of the world has been to focus on the effects - which, of course, were devastating. The idea of being able to produce a strong, upbeat project about women who were HIV positive sounded like a great challenge.”

“During the photo session, I would shoot a series of images and then show the model what I was doing, so they could feel comfortable about the image. If they weren’t happy with the picture, we would discuss the problem and shoot it another way or from a different angle.”

“Even though I am aware that Photoshop can be used to produce writing on the body, I wanted something more authentic, an original image. Also, I felt that it would be photographically more interesting to be able to see through the writing and to have the words mold around the body. So I used a tattoo product that could be removed after the photography shoot had taken place.”

The exhibition was held at fortyfive downstairs gallery Melbourne in March 2007. Gallery staff estimate that between 500 and 750 people came through and visited the exhibition.

A Body of Knowledge will be shown again at Frankston Arts Centre, Curve Wall, June 13 to July 21 2007