WILL HIGGINS
Our Boys Need Us
When I was diagnosed with HIV on my 19th birthday, I was left in a state of confusion and loss. Lacking an intimate understanding of my status, as well as the language to communicate my changing relationship with myself, I felt betrayed by my own body and mind. In my early days of being positive, I found no place where I could gain control over something now living inside of me.
In creating collage, photography, and sculpture, I found ways to explore my relationship with and understanding of being HIV positive. My material is sourced from pornographic magazines from the 1970s. The men in the photographs display a sense of freedom and pride,
a stark contrast to the photography of gay men I had become accustomed to seeing as I researched the AIDS crisis. Through these processes, I aim to introduce a contemporary voice and attitude into the discourse and visual media surrounding HIV and AIDS, a history that is often difficult to discuss or ignored altogether, as well as grant myself the autobiographical agency that I felt I had lost.
Contact Information
email: willshiggins@yahoo.com
Instagram: @Bigdipper9000
Web: Willshiggins.com
When I was diagnosed with HIV on my 19th birthday, I was left in a state of confusion and loss. Lacking an intimate understanding of my status, as well as the language to communicate my changing relationship with myself, I felt betrayed by my own body and mind. In my early days of being positive, I found no place where I could gain control over something now living inside of me.
In creating collage, photography, and sculpture, I found ways to explore my relationship with and understanding of being HIV positive. My material is sourced from pornographic magazines from the 1970s. The men in the photographs display a sense of freedom and pride,
a stark contrast to the photography of gay men I had become accustomed to seeing as I researched the AIDS crisis. Through these processes, I aim to introduce a contemporary voice and attitude into the discourse and visual media surrounding HIV and AIDS, a history that is often difficult to discuss or ignored altogether, as well as grant myself the autobiographical agency that I felt I had lost.
Contact Information
email: willshiggins@yahoo.com
Instagram: @Bigdipper9000
Web: Willshiggins.com