The Art of Photography during the AIDS Crisis

Abstract

If anything characterized the world of art during the last years of the 20th century, it was the crisis caused by AIDS, unleashing a series of creations, transforming it scene. The field of photography provided a wide range of images capable of shocking and, even altering behavior, channeling the suffering of the patient from a privileged position. The photographic portrait was reiterated in the artistic field and the works became authentic social documents of an era. The need to put a human face on the virus and fight against stigma led to the development of a photographic theme that stirred consciences. The professionals, far from sensationalism, capture the pandemic in multiple ways from a realistic perspective, poetic in some cases, but always with an absolute protagonist such as the evicted person, who allowed himself to be photographed without any taboo.