National Latinx HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: Positivo

on this last day of latinx heritage month and even more importantly, on this national latinx HIV/AIDS awareness day, i am highlighting a campaign i created with a philadelphia community based organization 10 years ago called “positivo.”

“positivo” launched in october 2013 and featured various different images, north philadelphia residents doing everyday things: hugging a loved one, spending time with a nephew, and cooking for our family. the images were printed in the dimensions of a vinyl album cover and posted in bodegas, pharmacies and on street corners in north philadelphia neighborhoods.

as a person living with HIV, i wanted to be a part of shifting the narrative that conversations around HIV/AIDS have to be rooted in fear. my hope was to provide a visual possibility that conversations around HIV could be rooted in hope and had by all members of the community.

so many people worked on and supported this project and in many ways, it gave me the confidence to create to gran varones a year later.

on this national latinx HIV/AIDS awareness day, may we all have conversations and discussions with ourselves and each other about all of the ways we are already working to end HIV and all of the ways we continue to do the work.