Episoder
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Our guest today is David Gere, who calls himself an ‘Artivist.’ He is that rare being, a creative artist and writer, academic and activist, who crosses traditional boundaries with ease. David remembers the experience of seeing close friends affected and dying of AIDS in 1980s San Francisco, and his growing conviction that it might be possible to use art to change behaviours and attitudes, ‘I really thought of art as being about expression, getting things out, having a full life … it was about beauty … yes, it was about beauty, but it was also about Action.’
David started his professional career as an arts critic in the San Francisco Bay area, was co-chair of the International Dance Critics Association, and is the founding director of the Art and Global Health Center at UCLA, the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a writer and essayist with many publications to his name, including the prize-winning book How to Make Dances in an Epidemic: Tracking Choreography in the Age of AIDS. And he has created and curated a series of exhibitions and projects, showcasing art that shines a light on public health issues, especially the HIV/AIDS epidemic. His most recent endeavor is the multi-media photo-storytelling project ‘Through Positive Eyes.’
Can artistic work have a real impact on attitudes and prejudices? And if so, how? David reflects on what happened when the hero in a popular soap opera in India reveals himself as HIV positive, and on handing cameras to HIV positive people to tell their own stories.
More about David here
Through Positive Eyes photo storytelling project here
UCLA World Arts and Cultures/DanceTwitter
@UCLAWACD
David Gere, prof. of arts activism in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance & dir. of the UCLA Art & Global Health Center
For more about UNAIDS, check out:
www.unaids.org/podcasts
Twitter: @UNAIDS
Instagram: unaidsglobal
UNAIDS Youtube channel
Find Powell Media on:
www.powellmedia.ch
@PowellMediaCH -
Our guest this week is Swati Bhattacharya, the first woman to become the Chief Creative Officer of a major advertising company in India. She has fought throughout her career against advertising stereotypes, particularly around the traditional roles of women in India, whether as mothers, daughters, wives or widows. What makes her different from many of her male colleagues she says, is that, ‘Whatever project I work on I put my heart into it, I have never looked at my audience as product users, they are human beings.’ Her ground-breaking approach has won her company many accolades and scores of international awards.
Swati has never been afraid to speak her mind, and a strong focus of her work has been campaigns to battle the widespread discrimination and stigma against transgender children and adults in India, and around the world. In her opinion, most people have been battered and bruised in some way or another, but transgender people particularly suffer - from homelessness, from sexual violence and from mental illness. She recalls that transgender women are up to 40% more likely to be HIV positive.
But if advertising is traditionally a means of increasing a company’s bottom line, how do you persuade a client like the Times of India to take on such controversial themes as a means of expanding business? And what has been the wider impact of Swati’s ground -breaking work?
Swati’s on Twitter: @techyswati
Some of her work:
Unbox Me movie here
The Mirror film here
For more about UNAIDS, check out:
www.unaids.org/podcasts
Twitter: @UNAIDS
Instagram: unaidsglobal
UNAIDS Youtube channel -
Manglende episoder?
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This week we are talking to the extraordinary DeLovie Kwagala, award winning photographer, artist and fighter for social justice. Identifying as non-binary, Delovie grew up in Uganda, suffering an abusive childhood and learning about survival the very hard way. They remember the experience of being kidnapped from school by their father, and growing up in isolation, ignored and rejected by their stepmother. Always feeling an outsider and different from their peers, DeLovie recounts the abuse and discrimination against the LGBTQ community in Uganda; and the struggle to persuade their parents who were HIV positive, to seek treatment despite the stigma surrounding the condition. In 2013, DeLovie narrowly escapes civil war in Sudan, and eventually finds refuge in South Africa. DeLovie has found a voice through photography, with a unique style exploring identity, belonging and gender. Winning the East African Photography Award in 2021, DeLovie says, ‘ I am proud to be the first queer photographer telling a queer story to get this recognition’. Accepting yourself as you are has been a hard but essential life lesson that’s helped DeLovie succeed, totally ‘against the odds.’
Contact DeLovie on
[email protected]You can see some of DeLovie’s amazing work here:
https://deloviephotography.com/
Instagram: aconstantbecoming
Recent work:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/interactive/2021/pride-world-photos-lgbtq-pandemic/
https://www.aint-bad.com/article/2021/06/28/pride/
https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/facebook-lift-black-voices-photography-220621
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/29/i-am-not-my-trauma-survivors-of-sexual-abuse-at-a-ugandan-girls-shelter-photo-essayFor more about UNAIDS, check out:
www.unaids.org/podcasts
Twitter: @UNAIDS
Instagram: unaidsglobal
UNAIDS Youtube channel -
Our guest this week is traveller, ex ballet dancer and above all – walker – Jonatan Montoya. Jon has set out on a staggering journey – to go right round the world on foot, visiting each of the Seven Wonders of the modern world, a massive trek of over 50,000 miles. The sheer ambition is enough to take your breath away. Jon was born and grew up in Mexico City and after troubled teenage years, he admits he has struggled to find his purpose in life. But during the Covid lockdown inspiration came to him and the Seven Wonders Walk was born. Jon’s motivation for his mega walk is to raise awareness and understanding of HIV. ‘What I know about HIV has made me want to walk and advocate for this cause, even if I am not doing it perfectly. We the general public need to know what HIV really is.’ Jon himself was terrified of being infected with the disease as a teenager to the point that he became celibate, and was too ashamed to discuss his fears with anyone. But how best can he get the message out to young people in Mexico and start to break down the cultural barriers that prevent open communication?
Jon talks about a number of ‘against the odds ‘ moments in his life – his mother’s well meaning but misguided childhood health tips, surviving a near-miss car crash while selling bootleg records on the street with his father, avoiding becoming a professional ballet dancer, and his own mental health struggles as he grew up. We discuss the cultural barriers to improving the HIV infection rates in Mexico “ We are taught that heterosexuality is the normal and correct way to be, and when you have this inner dialogue, it’s hard to talk about HIV”.Since recording this episode, Jon has put his walk on hold and is looking for different ways to promote AIDS awareness.
In case you were wondering... the Seven Wonders of the Modern World are: the Taj Mahal, the Colosseum, Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu, Christ the Redeemer, Petra, and the Great Wall of China.
To find out more, you can contact Jon:
[email protected]For more about UNAIDS, check out
www.unaids.org/podcasts
Twitter: @UNAIDS
Instagram: unaidsglobal
UNAIDS Youtube channel -
We kick off our series with former South African court justice, HIV advocate and tireless defender of LGBTQ+ rights, Edwin Cameron. From his tough childhood growing up in a children’s home, he went on to an outstanding legal career, and was described by Nelson Mandela as ‘One of South Africa’s new heroes’. In this episode, Edwin talks frankly about growing up as a poor white child in the apartheid era, about the trauma of getting diagnosed with HIV in the 1980s, and the difficult decision to declare his HIV status publicly – he is still the only prominent public figure in Africa to do so. ‘Sometimes, in appropriate circumstances, you’ve got to take a risk, and the risk, when you are doing the right thing, is often rewarded. ‘
How have attitudes to HIV changed in South Africa since Edwin Cameron took that risk? And what gives him hope as the fight against the stigma of HIV continues?
Adult themes.
Books by Edwin Cameron:
Witness to Aids
Justice: A Personal Account
Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa
For more about UNAIDS, check out:www.unaids.org/podcasts
Twitter: @UNAIDS
Instagram: unaidsglobal
UNAIDS Youtube channel
