1. GIDEON MENDEL
• Born 1959 in Jozi
• Contemporary photographer – his words
• Social commentator – my words
• Globally acclaimed
• Groundbreaking documentation of HIV
/AIDS in Africa for past 16 years

2. •6 World Press Photo awards 1992 – 2008
•2 Canon Picture of the Year awards 1995, 2003
•Nikon Photographer of the Year – 1995
•W Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography 1996
•A broken Landscape – 2001
•The Harsh Divide – 2003
•Climate Change Project – 2008 till present

3. Gideon’s turning point
• 1993 Zimbabwe
• The moment from life to death
• “As the family started to cry I lowered my
camera and stepped back.”
• “Are there some moments that are
sacrosanct where a camera cannot go, I
asked myself…”
• “ Come on man, do your job” said the
doctor

5. A Broken Landscape
• First monograph published in 2001
• Documenting the impact and reaction to HIV / AIDS in
Africa over 16 years
• Several personal stories followed over the years across
7 African countries
• Intimate relationships forged with AIDS sufferers where
he gained their trust.
• The aim of his work was to educate the world
• Image of KZN 1993 ( cover) is yardstick of Maternal HIV
infection at being 13% when he begins. By the time the
book is published in 2001, the maternal infection rate in
this village is 40%

7. Apathy and denial
• Migrant workers on a platinum mine near
Rustenberg refuse to wear condoms
• 1999
• Many of them come from Lesotho and
return to their wives infected from
prostitutes they have slept with in the
mining compound

9. Compassion
• The tenderness of a mother caring for her
sick son
• 1997 – BA ( Before ARV’s)
• This image taken in Tanzania is the iconic
image from this body of work. It represents
the human story of suffering, pain, family,
how necessary the compassion is in
keeping the sick alive…

11. Compassion
• From strangers
• An abandoned orphan receives care at
Nazareth House, Cape Town
• 1995

13. The Stigma
• Respecting the subject’s anonymity while
still making a statement about
discrimination
• From a Mozambique Action Campaign
challenging the societal stigma

15. The Label
• TB treatment queue in Malawi
• “ I have TB Not AIDS”
• The hostility towards the camera is
evident. They don’t want to be captured,
they are defiant in their position despite
their frailty…

17. Staring death in the face
• “AIDS has carried my family away like a
flood.”
• Mother and son share a hospital bed in
Malawi.
• They mother died 3 weeks after the iamge
and the son 3 months later.

19. The night Vigil
• Gideon stays up all night to pray with the
family

22. A mother grieves
“ I have lost 8 of my 11 children to AIDS”

27. The Progressive Paradox
• Sex education by the Church in Uganda
• Uganda has been one of the few African successes to
reduce its HIV infection rate in a decade
• Many believe it is because of this open approach that did
not try to preach abstinence
• The shafts of light through the open church are like
illuminating concepts that have infiltrated the way of life
of the community
• Without a monochromatic approach to this image the
preacher’s white collar would not have been as
prominent. The juxtaposition with the words on the white
board tell an entire story of HIV Aids education. Brilliant!

32. Nomphilo’s story
• Gideon visited her 4 times over as many
years
• He gained her trust and allowed herself to
be photographed in her most vulnerable
state
• CD4 count: 7

35. Nomphilo’s story
• Nomphilo triumphs after 3 years on ARV’s
• CD3 count: 257
• Gideon’s message to pharmaceuticals to
lower costs of life saving treatment

37. The memory box
• An orphan cradles a box decorated with
keepsakes from her mother
• The box has no photograph only a hospital
card and an ID book

40. Because images inspire people to hope, to action and to change…