The bravery and determination of Liverpool's older HIV+ community will be told in a series of striking photographs.
Growing Old Positively, by Old Swan photographer Lee Wolfy and LGBTQ+ charity Sahir House, will tell the stories of older HIV+ people who lived through the mass panic and despair of the 1980s and 90s, when the virus first hit the UK.
Lee, 51, who has been capturing the lives of the North West's gay community in photos for more than 10 years, said: "Great advancements with drugs and medication mean that HIV+ people are able to live long, happy successful lives, and we wanted to capture that. I often work with positive representation of the gay community, and body positivity is a huge part of what I do - celebrating the lives of gay men in the North West - and this is an extension of that.
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"There are whole communities out there that people aren't aware of. It's time to break down these stigmas and show what life is really like for people living with HIV today.
"There's still a stigma attached to HIV. People of my age remember a time of fear and horror, when HIV was a death sentence. Equally, there are younger people who are not so much at risk these days who have no idea about that history.
"As an older man I see the younger community quite happily taking PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) pills, and I'm made up for them that these amazing medical advancements have been made to protect them. But there are people still living with HIV today, and people who deserve to be remembered."
The project is expected to be completed by December 1, World AIDS Day, an international day dedicated to the memory of the deadly pandemic that swept across the UK in the 1980s and 90s, striking fear into the heart of the LGBTQ+ community.
Today, there are approximately 106,890 people living with HIV in the UK, according to the national HIV and sexual health charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust. New diagnoses of the virus have been in decline since 2005, with diagnoses among gay and bisexual men falling by 18% in 2019 alone.
Lee said: "As a 21-year-old man I had an extremely smart black suit, and I attended more funerals in my 20s than many people many decades older than myself. It was a time when you were losing friends. People were disappearing. It was a very scary time.
"Now HIV is no longer a death sentence. We want to challenge people's perceptions about HIV by giving HIV+ people the chance to tell their stories."
Rachael Hickmott, a children and young people's support worker at Sahir House, said: "We're putting together a project for Liverpool partly to commemorate people who have passed away because of AIDS and HIV, and also as a celebration of the lives of HIV+ people, and how the treatment of HIV has changed over time.
"The project aims to shed light on a hidden community and give them the chance to speak out and show themselves.
"There is still a huge amount of stigma about HIV. People don't realise how much things have changed. They still see it as a death sentence and people are ostracised because of it. So we're also hoping to educate people to reduce that stigma, to help people see HIV as it is today."
The Growing Old Positively exhibition is open to HIV+ people aged 45 and over. To get involved, email info@sahir.uk.com.
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