Katja Heinemann: Artist Statement

With improved medical treatments, HIV-positive children in the United States are now reaching their teenage years. But the majority of young people suffering from HIV/AIDS cannot talk about the illness outside their homes—and sometimes not even within their families—because of the stigma attached to the disease. Many feel isolated from their peers as well as adults. They do not know others who are experiencing the emotions that accompany illness, secrecy, and loss. While new treatments bring hope, a cure remains elusive, and children living with HIV/AIDS have to learn to cope with toxic, often experimental, medical regimens. School poses a separate set of problems, from needing to be secretive and hiding medications to missing classes because of illness and visits to the doctor. And as the children grow older, the already difficult process of coming of age sexually is further complicated by the sexually transmittable nature of their illness.

On Borrowed Time explores the impact the disease has on young people. The photographs were taken at Camp Heartland for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS, where a safe atmosphere and feeling of acceptance enable the children to share their stories and find support. Both HIV-negative children, who suffer from the impact that the illness has on their families, and HIV-positive children attend the camp.

Of the approximately one million people living with HIV in the United States, an estimated 10,000 are children who contracted the virus from their mothers or through tainted blood transfusions. Eighty-five percent of HIV-positive children are black or Latino; most live in urban areas; and, as in other nations around the globe, HIV/AIDS in the United States remains a disease of poverty.

Many Americans now view HIV infection as another chronic but manageable illness, unaware of the overwhelming physical and psychological consequences that accompany the disease even in a nation that can afford to treat those who have contracted the virus. Contrary to the widespread assumption that the epidemic has been brought under control, HIV-infection rates in America have remained consistent over the past two decades at 40,000 new infections each year. And in certain segments of the population HIV/AIDS is actually on the rise, with the fastest growing rate of new infections among minorities and young people between the ages of 15 and 24.

Continued, in-depth documentation of the AIDS epidemic in Western, industrialized nations such as the United States is crucial. No amount of medical technology can address the social causes that perpetuate the cycle of new infections—causes that include the stigma toward people with the illness and the lack of public education and prevention efforts. Only through an increased awareness of the psychological causes and effects of HIV transmission will we be able to combat this illness successfully, both here and in the developing world.

I hope that the teenagers' stories contribute to this crucial, ongoing dialogue.