“AIDS is a puzzle of shadows, of darkness and light. It is hope despite the suffering and forgiveness despite loss. AIDS is about duality—stigma and compassion, complacency and awareness. AIDS is about solving a multitude of issues, from medical and political to economical, social, and also human, [issues] which have decimated communities and plagued countries and continents, leaving no oases.”

[An excerpt from Journeys Through Darkness: A Biography of award-winning, legally blind photographer Kurt Weston]

Today is December 1, World AIDS Day. This year, for its 37th commemoration, the WAD 2024 theme is Collective Action: Sustain and Accelerate HIV Progress (as per HIV.gov).

World AIDS Day is a day when we remember those we’ve lost to HIV and AIDS.

As activists and advocates, as survivors and supporters, we share our own journeys to ending the HIV epidemic.

I fell like I’m taking a risk here, but have been wanted to say this for a long time now: I’ve noticed that, in recent years, many individuals have distanced themselves from using the word “AIDS” and rather only talked about “HIV.” (“AIDS” was too harsh of a word, of a term, as some have explained.) But use it or not, AIDS (not only HIV) is still with us, in the Western world and around the whole world. Our job is to find our way to a world without HIV/AIDS.

Find out more about World AIDS Day here and more related photography here. Or simply, browse through my website, to learn more about my work documenting the pandemic.

It’s imperative, I believe, for all of us–advocates and activists, supporters and survivors alike–to continue documenting and telling the history of this pandemic until there’s a cure and beyond.

Wishing you a peaceful Sunday and, as always, thanks for stopping by,

Alina Oswald