‘Faces of HIV’ exhibit to come to UCF

As people we are all unique. As victims susceptible to HIV; everyone is at risk of infection.

This is the message the Faces of HIV, a six-month traveling art exhibit coming to UCF on Feb. 3, is fighting to get across with a collaboration of portraits, interviews and journals from 13 Florida residents living with the disease.

Kristin Rothbauer, spokeswoman for Faces of HIV, said that the exhibit examines stereotypes that are associated with the disease and how they affect people in their everyday lives.

"There is a lot of stereotypes out there and by showing the diversity of how these people became infected we can show that no one is immune. Anyone can get it," Rothbauer said. "And we are trying to give those with the disease a voice and a name."

The exhibit will feature life-size portraits of the individuals and access to their journals that they kept for 30 days, giving viewers a personal glimpse into their lives. For those with smartphones, there are QR codes available that allow them to watch interviews that explain how each individual contracted the disease, what they felt when they were diagnosed and how they are coping with it.

Michael Freeman, educational trainer for Health and Wellness Services at UCF, first discovered he was HIV positive in 1995. He was told by his physician that he had one year to live.

"It took a few months for me to get my head around what the disease meant and understanding that we only had several ways to treat it," Freeman said. "What couldn't be determined at that point was how far the disease had progressed."

By 2007, Freeman was considered a person living with AIDS. After he left UCF he could no longer afford his medication, which cost about $3,000 a month. He lost his house, his car and had only $49 in his wallet before almost dying from a MRSA infection after not taking any medication for six months.

"I woke up after being in a coma for a little bit and both my daughters and my two best friends were standing at the foot of my bed," Freeman said. "I asked, ‘Who the hell died?' and they started crying."

After that, Freeman decided to go back to school and complete his master's in clinical social work. Advocating for students has become an important part of his life. He hopes to create a kind of education that people can see as a protective factor and wants more campaigns like Faces of HIV to erase those stereotypes.

"This is no longer just a gay disease, this is no longer just a black disease. This disease affects all of us," Freeman said.

The Faces of HIV will also have brochures on prevention and knowledge of testing, said Jessica Hammonds, press secretary for the Florida Department of Health Bureau of HIV/AIDS. Prevention is a priority for the bureau especially when the numbers of cases are high. Florida is currently the third state with the highest percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS, just more than 97,000, according to a report done by Avert.org.

Rothbauer said that though the focuses of Faces of HIV are to promote awareness and understanding of the disease and eradicate those stigmas, the ultimate goal is to get people tested. One of the ways they promote testing awareness is through a text message program. People can text their zip codes to 447493 to find the closest testing center to them.

"Get tested and know your status," Rothbauer said. "That's how you're going to put an end to the disease."

For more information on Florida's Department of Health's prevention incentives visit http://www.preventhivflorida.org/. For more information on Faces of HIV visit http://www.wemakethechange.com.