3. The haunting image of David Kirby's death, taken by
journalism student Therese Frare in 1990, became
an iconic image of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that, by
then, had seen as many as 12 million people
infected.
4.
5. David Kirby's mother, Kay, holds a photograph
of her son before AIDS took its toll. Kirby was
an AIDS activist born and raised in a small town
in Ohio.
6.
7. "I started taking photos there for a school project," Frare says in an interview with Life, "and got to know the staff and amazing people like Peta (above), who was volunteering and car
"I started taking photos there for a school project," Frare
says in an interview with Life, "and got to know the staff
and amazing people like Peta (above), who was
volunteering and caring for David."
8.
9. Kirby died not long after Frare began shooting at
the hospice. She spent much more time, it turns
out, with Peta, a caretaker who himself was HIV-
positive. Frare photographed Peta over the course
of two years, until he, too, died of AIDS.
10.
11. As Peta's 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.
12. Editor Ben Cosgrove describes this image of Peta
taken by Frare:
It's just a masterful portrait of an obviously complex,
strong individual."