Eric Gottesman: Artist Statement

If I could see your face, I would not need food.
- An Ethiopian proverb

Ethiopian culture has historically placed a premium on self-respect and independence. And yet today, AIDS has caused some Ethiopians to hide their faces from others, and even from themselves.

I set out to show people living with this disease—at work, at home, with their families. But many Ethiopians living with HIV were reluctant to speak with me and refused to be photographed, saying that they were afraid their employers might fire them, their landlords might evict them, or their family members might disown them.

Out of necessity, I developed a different approach. I began to make portraits, omitting the subjects' real names and leaving them unidentifiable. I used positive-negative film that develops both a print and a negative immediately. The subjects and I would look at the photographs and decide whether their faces were truly hidden. If they were, I could use the image in exhibits and for publication. If they weren't, we would destroy the negative on the spot.

This collaborative process allowed me to create images that express what the participants want others to see about their lives. As such, the pictures begin to form a portrait of what HIV/AIDS looks like from an Ethiopian perspective.