New Partners & Getting the Word Out About Aging and HIV
Happy New Year! 2015 is already off to an exciting start for The Graying of AIDS: we’re happy to announce a recent partnership with national pharmacy chain Walgreens on their new Well Beyond HIV campaign, which highlights “people aging well beyond their HIV diagnosis” to “help inspire dialogue, eradicate stigmas and amplify the voices, faces and stories of those over 50 living with HIV.”
As Walgreens announced this week, “The centerpiece of the campaign is a traveling art exhibit, curated in collaboration with The Graying of AIDS, an independent documentary project and educational campaign. The exhibit provides a glimpse into the lives of older adults living with HIV and will make its first stop in Miami, Fla.”
The exhibit unveiling will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday (1/17) at Miami Beach Edition Hotel in Miami, and will be open to the public on Sunday, Jan. 18, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you’ll be in Miami this weekend, we hope you’ll come by!
Highlights from 2014: A great year for collaboration!
This opportunity to work with a company that plays an important role in the lives of many people aging with HIV/AIDS here in the U.S. is the latest in a series of terrific opportunities we’ve had to work with dedicated individuals and organizations to bring attention to HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, and treatment among older adults, as well as people’s day-to-day experiences aging with the virus. While you may have read about some of last year’s high points already, some of these partnerships may be news to you. All were thought-provoking and transformative for our project. Read More…
Challenging Stereotypes, One Bus Shelter at a Time (Part 2)
As we mentioned in our last blog post, earlier this year The Graying of AIDS worked closely with New York City-based AIDS research, education, and advocacy organization ACRIA to create an intimate portrait series of older adults – alone and with “partners” – on “Age is Not a Condom,” an NYC HIV/AIDS and aging awareness campaign.
AGE IS NOT A CONDOM: Jim and Tommy in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Washington Heights, Manhattan
During the month that the “Age is Not a Condom” posters were on display on bus shelters around the city, Katja and Naomi visited many of the bus shelter locations to photograph the posters in place and ask people for their reactions to the campaign. Naomi Read More…
Challenging Stereotypes, One Bus Shelter at a Time (Part 1)
Our Ground-breaking Portrait Series for NYC’s “Age is Not a Condom” Campaign
Two of the eight poster designs that were featured on 30 plus bus shelter locations around New York.
Here at The Graying of AIDS we think it’s a problem that we rarely see older adult intimacy in our media – it suggests that older adults aren’t sexual, or that their bodies should be hidden; on the rare occasion that we DO see older bodies in a sexual context, the images are often disrespectful or comical. We have long wanted to counteract this ageism by creating beautiful images that celebrate the intimacy that older adults enjoy in their relationships, encouraging our older neighbors to take good care of both their bodies and their partners in the process. Earlier this year we had the opportunity to do just that.
Show Some Skin for a Great Cause!
Casting Call for NYC Bus Shelter Campaign
The Graying of AIDS is excited to be working in collaboration with ACRIA on a new NYC-based HIV and aging awareness bus shelter campaign. While previous awareness campaigns have often used professional models or pictured individual older adults, the 2014 “Age is Not a Condom” campaign will focus largely on “real New Yorkers,” and we are still looking for older adults – especially Latino and mixed race couples, as well as trans women of all backgrounds with their partners – who are interested in participating. You do not need to be HIV+ to participate.
To download our “Casting Call / Frequently Asked Questions” flyer, please click here.
The Word is Getting Out: People are Talking about Aging and HIV
The last few months have brought some exciting new developments that suggest a growing awareness of the challenges affecting older adults living with HIV/AIDS, and new efforts being made to address some of those challenges. In honor of this 25th annual World AIDS Day (December 1), we thought we’d take a moment to share some of these recent developments with you, along with some of the media coverage they’ve inspired.
A GRAYING PANDEMIC AND OLDER ADULTS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS FEATURED IN WORLD AIDS DAY MEDIA COVERAGE
We are delighted to report that our series, A Graying Pandemic, was featured in Bloomberg Businessweek for World AIDS Day, and we have uploaded new, extended edits of some of the interviews we conducted at last year’s International AIDS Conference to our Graying Pandemic tumblr (interviews can be accessed by clicking on individual portraits).
Read More…