Sun Dec 2, 2012, 03:23 AM
LIFE Behind the Picture: The Photo That Changed the Face of AIDS
In November 1990 LIFE magazine published a photograph of a young man named David Kirby... The haunting image of Kirby on his death bed, taken by a journalism student named Therese Frare, quickly became the one photograph most powerfully identified with the HIV/AIDS epidemic... David Kirby was born and raised in a small town in Ohio. A gay activist in the 1980s, he learned in the late Eighties — while he was living in California and estranged from his family — that he had contracted HIV. He got in touch with his parents and asked if he could come home; he wanted, he said, to die with his family around him. The Kirbys welcomed their son back... “Early on,” Frare says of her time at Pater Noster House, “I asked David if he minded me taking pictures, and he said, ‘That’s fine, as long as it’s not for personal profit.’ To this day I don’t take any money for the picture. But David was an activist, and he wanted to get the word out there about how devastating AIDS was to families and communities. Honestly, I think he was a lot more in tune with how important these photos might become...” As Peta’s (a volunteer at Pater Noster House, not David's lover) health deteriorated in early 1992 — as his HIV-positive status transitioned to AIDS — the Kirbys began to care for him, in much the same way that Peta had cared for their son in the final months of his life. Peta had comforted David; spoken to him; held him; tried to relieve his pain and loneliness through simple human contact — and the Kirbys resolved to do the same for Peta, to be there for him as his strength and his vitality faded. Kay Kirby told LIFE.com that she “made up my mind when David was dying and Peta was helping to care for him, that when Peta’s time came — and we all knew it would come — that we would care for him. There was never any question. We were going to take care of Peta. That was that. Read more: http://life.time.com/history/behind-the-picture-the-photo-that-changed-the-face-of-aids/#ixzz2Dsg8C2gh
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9 replies, 1165 views
Always highlight: 10 newest replies | Replies posted after I mark a forum
Replies to this discussion thread
 9 replies |
Author | Time | Post |
 LIFE Behind the Picture: The Photo That Changed the Face of AIDS (Original post) |
HiPointDem | Dec 2012 | OP |
| Warpy | Dec 2012 | #1 | |
| HiPointDem | Dec 2012 | #2 | |
| JustAnotherGen | Dec 2012 | #4 | |
| HiPointDem | Dec 2012 | #5 | |
| JustAnotherGen | Dec 2012 | #6 | |
| HiPointDem | Dec 2012 | #9 | |
| Are_grits_groceries | Dec 2012 | #3 | |
| Snotcicles | Dec 2012 | #7 | |
| Odin2005 | Dec 2012 | #8 |
Response to HiPointDem (Original post)
Sun Dec 2, 2012, 03:42 AM
Warpy (69,188 posts)
1. By 1990, Reagan was long gone, heterosexual cases and cases
Response to Warpy (Reply #1)
Sun Dec 2, 2012, 03:46 AM
2. i posted the story because it touched me. i remember when the photo came out & the
Response to HiPointDem (Reply #2)
Sun Dec 2, 2012, 07:51 AM
JustAnotherGen (5,596 posts)
4. HiPoint
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Can you give me a snapshot of the Benneton contro? Beautiful, sad picture btw.
Asking because I was born in 1973... I'm wondering if this is why my parents ramped up the clothing budget. My mom always bought my brother and me a few sweaters there for the winter as kids - mixed race family ... She liked their message. In high school - she started buying me a lot more from there. My dad was and my mom still is always for the under dog. |
Response to HiPointDem (Reply #5)
Sun Dec 2, 2012, 05:41 PM
JustAnotherGen (5,596 posts)
6. thanks you!
Response to HiPointDem (Original post)
Sun Dec 2, 2012, 05:30 AM
Are_grits_groceries (12,592 posts)
3. I lived in DC when the crisis began.
Response to HiPointDem (Original post)
Sun Dec 2, 2012, 05:54 PM
Snotcicles (4,927 posts)
7. A photo that haunts me to this day is Kevin Cater's 1994 Pulitzer Prize winner. nt
Response to HiPointDem (Original post)
Sun Dec 2, 2012, 06:45 PM
8. I remember first seeing that photo when I was a little kid.
