The 36 statements that accompany the paintings are intended as a guide, not a detailed description. Each painting has a richer and deeper story, but a strong belief in confidentiality dictates that the intimate details, and specific locations, be generalized. I leave it to the work itself, the variety of painterly techniques, drawing, lyrics and various scenic backgrounds to provide information and insight through the artistry of the images.
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Various images will generate responses from students and highlight the discussions. The clear variety of the various people of color, ethnicity, and age add an element of “real” to the series. Of the actual number of people presented in the series, approximately 25% are HIV positive, but the key to the success of the program has been the emphasis on the whole family, the whole community. Just as Universal Precautions (the assumption that everyone is infected) are practiced in hospitals and schools in risky situations dealing with the blood, the Healing Community does the same. Since the community is so conscious of the medical procedures involved the actual incidents of risk are minimal. The parents are so well informed and the children well trained, that staff fears, though present and real, are also minimal.
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The portraits attempt to portray a broad view of the program covering five years of taking pictures at all three locations. The common connection is the investment of time and care by the sponsoring organizations to provide the funding for the program so that no family has additional expenses.
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Through the Healing Community the artful presentation and series of drawing sessions, the subject of HIV/AIDS has been introduced to middle school students. The self-expression explored through the drawing exercises and discussions that have come from seeing the 36 paintings and learning about the Healing Community have sensitized the students to the subject at hand, as well as to a group of people who are unique and separated from everyday life. What the sharing of these images attempts to do is break down our own fears and realize that the world depicted in these paintings is not so different from our own.
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The ages of the children are close enough to middle school age and the appearances of many family members and groups of friends isn’t that unusual from the daily life of the students I teach. This is the common bond that promises to influence the students on matters of community.
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Hopefully, questions will emerge asking why this (HIV/AIDS) occurs and certainly while this has been covered in health classes and science, the ‘why’ of awareness is what is so interesting.
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To have a middle school student aware of aspects in our environment which pose potential dangers, without making the fear greater, is a challenge. To build a connection between the image of the healing community portraits and their own self-image is a way of seeing one’s common humanity. There are limits as to what can be accomplished in a single art class, but I conclude the class with the idea that self-portraiture and knowing about a group of children living with HIV/AIDS connects them to a community. These portraits are a vision towards wellness, an expression of self-esteem that reaches out to educate our students in self-awareness and the making of good choices.
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To support this premise I have read a detailed book by Barbara Ganim entitled Art and Healing. The search for wellness need not begin as an adult. The very freedom of expression that is more easily available to middle school aged children speaks to the positive process of self-expression. Each child has the opportunity to develop skills that express their inner feelings through the use of art. The difference in this unit is the union of information about a community living with HIV/AIDS and the motivation for drawing and painting.
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Though this approach to the deeper issues of race, ethnicity and dissent may be viewed from another more informal door, it is evident that the very nature of the Healing Community is about diversity. People who are drawn together because of a common need for support, shared concerns and mutual understanding of the particular problem with which they are dealing. Barbara Ganim’s approach through visualization to create healing art is but one step removed from the presentation of the Healing Community paintings. In fact, she makes reference to celebratory healing art (Ganim, 183) which closely describes the intention that is part of the origins for making these painting.
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A vision towards wellness is not the ordinary language of a middle school art lesson, but this is the ultimate goal: to provide students with tools and skills to cope with some of the real challenges in their lives in a manner that is more natural. I am working to provide my students with an awareness of AIDS that is less clinical, yet more effective, and make a strong imprint in their consciousness. By creating their own drawings and paintings they heighten their own awareness and sense of self.