AIDS photo diary, 1986–1990 is an art work that comprises a photo diary that records the decline in health and eventual death of David Tosh, from AIDS from 1986 to 1990 in Sydney, Australia. The diary – with accompanying photographs taken by John Jenner – was created by Jenner to remember his friend and honour the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. Some of the images were featured in an article in Sydney Morning Herald's Good Weekend magazine, 13 October 1990, pp. 20–29.[1]
Contents[edit]
The work includes photographs by John Jenner from 1986 to 1990, together with a biography in the form of a play written by Jenner. The diary also includes poems by Willy Barber.[2]
Context[edit]
This diary was one of a number of artistic responses to HIV/AIDS in Australia at a time when medications that could prolong and enhance the quality of life of those living with HIV had not been developed.[3] David Tosh died on 3 May 1990 aged 30 years.[4][5] In 1990 Australia experienced 2381 cases of AIDS as reported by the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research.[6] 97% of these cases were male and the survival rate was only 40%.[7]
Australia’s experience of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and 90s is thus ancient history, and so much of that time is gone: a time of the dead and the dying; vigil shifts at ward 17; watching brilliant and beautiful men sliding into garbled dementia; polite efforts to avoid funeral scheduling conflicts; two full pages of obits in the Sydney Star Observer; anger and love and screaming horror at the waste of so many lives.
Stephen Dunne, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 November 2006[8]
The diary was exhibited in the 100 Objects Exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales in 2010.[9]
References[edit]
- ^ "AIDS photo diary, 1986–1990 / photographed and compiled by John Jenner". SLNSW catalogue. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
- ^ "John Jenner – papers, 1985 – 1993". SLNSW catalogue. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
- ^ Sendziuk, Paul. "Denying the Grim Reaper: Australian Responses to AIDS". Eureka Street. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
- ^ "Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt Panel in memory of David Tosh". Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald 'Good Weekend' Magazine: 29. 13 December 1990.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link) - ^ Davies, Peter; Aggleton, Peter; Hart, Graham (1992), AIDS : rights, risk, and reason, Falmer Press, ISBN 978-0-7507-0039-9
- ^ Ware, Cheryl (12 April 2019). HIV survivors in Sydney : memories of the epidemic. Cham, Switzerland. ISBN 9783030051020. OCLC 1097183579.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Dunne, Stephen (13 November 2006). "Holding the man". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
- ^ "SLNSW 100 Objects Exhibition". Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2013.