Live Storytelling Schedule
Monday, 27 July
- 11:45
- Natasha
- 14:00
- Cazu
- 14:10
- Mikaela
- 14:20
- Ana
- 14:30
- Cleverson
Tuesday, 28 July
- 11:00
- Francisco
- 11:10
- Ágatha
- 11:20
- Jorge
- 11:30
- Lucas
- 11:40
- Cleverson
- 11:50
- Micaela
Wednesday, 29 July
- 11:00
- Natasha
- 11:10
- Micaela
- 11:20
- Cazu
- 11:30
- Ana
- 11:40
- Ágatha
- 11:50
- Lucas
Thursday, 30 July
- 11:00
- Jorge
- 11:10
- Lucas
- 11:20
- Francisco
- 11:30
- Ágatha
- 11:40
- Jorge
Schedule subject to change.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Global Village, International AIDS Conference 2026
Riocentro Convention and Event Center
Monday, 27 July 2026 – Thursday, 30 July 2026
This exhibition builds on Through Positive Eyes—a global participatory arts initiative that has empowered people living with HIV in cities around the world to tell their own stories through photography, narrative, and documentaries.
Original participants from the 2009 Through Positive Eyes workshop in Rio join a new generation of younger people, creating space for dialogue about experiences living with HIV in Brazil today.
Throughout the conference, artivists perform in dialogue with the collaborative collage they created—Somos Todos Iguais!? (We’re All the Same?!)—using the installation as a narrative backdrop. Through photography, performance, and personal testimony, they invite audiences into conversations about stigma, resilience, community, equality, and hope.
Collage and Stories by
Agatha · Ana · Cazu · Cleverson · Francisco · Jorge · Lucas · Mikaela · Natasha
Project Team
This project was developed by artist Bobby Gordon with the UCLA Art & Global Health Center, and Alessandro Conceição and Maiara Mendonça of Rio’s Center for Theatre of the Oppressed. Set design by Cachalote Mattos.
Support
Support is provided by the Herb Ritts Foundation, UCLA AIDS Institute, and UCLA-CDU CFAR grant P30 AI152501.
Returning Artivists
Aninha
I am a happy person, but it hasn’t always been like this. I was rebellious. I didn’t want to take the medication. I was sick with AIDS, bedridden, in a wheelchair. I almost died but didn’t, thanks to …
Cazu
Living with HIV, I have achieved many things that I never thought possible—public recognition, great roles both in the cinema and in the theater— all since I became HIV- positive. This has given me …
Cleverson
I realized I was gay when I was nine years old. But actually understanding it took some time. At twelve, I had a friend who was openly gay and I wanted to find out more about it through him, to get …
Francisco
My name is Francisco. I live in Rio de Janeiro. I have AIDS. I traveled from Recife, through Natal, through Paraíba. I was kicked out of my house. I am like a nomad. I started traveling, traveling, …
Jorge
HIV changed my life a lot, but it had a good side too, which is that I started doing prevention work, raising awareness so that other people don’t become infected with HIV. In the beginning, I …