Description
Prezista, Prezcobix, Delstrigo, Dovato, Stocrit, Symtuza, Odefsey, Ritonavir, Biktarvy, Viread, Combivir, Truvada, Atripla, Reyataz, Complera, Genvoya, Tivicay, Triumeq, Kaletra, Isentress, Viramune, Kivexa, Edurant, 3TC and their generics …
While medical science tries to find an ideal way to erase the Human Immunodeficiency Virus from the human body, millions of affected people continue to depend on pills from different generations and formulations. The human rights movement teaches the public to see through differences, but many of those living with HIV remain unable to embrace their own challenged identity.
In this work, the artist Kairon Liu collects surplus/discarded antiretroviral drugs from the HIV community in Taiwan to narrate the landscape between people living with the virus, medications, social responsibility, and themselves.
Bio
TAIWAN
Photography, Mixed media
Kairon Liu (b.1992, Taipei, Taiwan) graduated from the Department of Graphic Communication, Shih Hsin University. As an artist, curator, and photographer, Liu’s practice reflects his observations on diverse beliefs in human society by creating narratives exploring issues related to religion, illness, and universal values. Since 2017, Liu has been developing Humans as Hosts. A project focused on understanding the living situation of people with HIV and heightening awareness about AIDS. In collaboration with social networks, NGOs, and public health authorities worldwide, Liu gets to know HIV-positive individuals and invites them into his work. The resulting images/archives that he created with the participants can be viewed as the proof/disproof of stereotypes, prejudices, and stigmatization produced by societies.
Liu’s work was awarded as the National Winner in Taiwan by SONY World Photography Awards; from 2014 to 2023, his artworks have been exhibited at such venues in Brisbane, Springfield, New York City, D.C., London, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Yilan. Liu has also worked as an art project manager and curator. He has managed several exhibitions and artfests at Taipei Artist Village, Treasure Hill Artist Village, MoCA Taipei, Taitung Art Museum, Tina Keng Gallery, and TKG+.
