It started as a trip to Kenya to meet old friends.
Shenzhen-based photographer Chris Wooden never expected to find himself helping a woman grieve over the son she had lost to leukemia.
“Being there was good and hugging each other and helping her,” said Wooden.
When Wooden’s plane touched down in Nairobi, Kenya, in April 2016, he also had no idea he would be leaving the country with powerful portraits of HIV-positive people thriving in a culture that stigmatizes the infected. The pictures were displayed during the 23-year-old’s photo exhibition Matumaini (hope) held on July 17 in Shenzhen.
“I was going to take pictures regardless… the story became what it is, super raw and real and unplanned. I love that.”
The pictures show HIV-positive people in Africa looking healthy and happy.
“I want to show a different side of Kenya,” said Wooden. “Don’t let the headlines dictate how you view the world.”
Wooden remembers one man in particular.
“Ten years ago he was facing death. Him and his wife were both diagnosed. They thought their children were going to be orphans,” said Wooden, but with the help of the charity CARE for AIDS the man is doing well.
Anyone interested in the photo series can attend the free July 31 book exchange in Shuiwei to see Wooden’s pictures and talk face to face.
“I’m just a young guy, I’m not trying to act like a Harvard professor coming in to give a lecture,” he said. “I’m just going to share the story of how it happened, the inspiration, the people, the culture of what it's like if you have HIV in Kenya.”
The twice-monthly Book Exchange is hosted in the Shuiwei Community Center and has about 700 English books free to borrow. It meets twice a month and is run by a volunteer group.
July 31, 3.30-6pm; free entry. Shuiwei Community Center. See event listing.
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