Band-Aids

The Band-Aid Series is about measurement and that what is visible often affects our perception of reality, masquerading the truth. The cocktail, which was the first effective medical intervention against the virus that causes AIDS, had a secondary affect which improved the appearance of people who were infected with the illness. As one who benefited from the efficacy of new drug treatments, I soon found myself the recipient of compliments on my appearance and supposed restoration to good health. These compliments were really a form of measurement, a comparison to how I looked before. It occurred to me that I was walking around with invisible scars and determined to make my illness seen. Band-aids were placed as signifiers of illness on those areas of my body where there had once been a manifestation of illness - a lesion, a scar or a place where some medical procedure had been performed. The photographs seen here are a response to the comments made to me about my appearance, one that belied my true health status. Referencing the motion studies of Edweard Muybridge which were also a means of measurement, the photographs are also a catalog of illness set against a grid, in this case a copy stand used for photographing evidence or two dimensional works of art. They are a response that looking does not mean good health and that no matter what my appearance may be, the virus still lurks inside my body.