As part of a lecture on Tuesday about HIV/AIDS in South Africa, Gideon Mendel shared a photograph he referred to as “the moment of death.”
He explained that the moment he was photographing a patient, the AIDS victim died.
“I put down my camera, not sure what to do,” he said. “Then the doctor said to me, “˜Come on, man, do your job.’ In that moment I realized that I must do the job I’ve come to do.”
Mendel took his audience on a journey through South Africa on Tuesday as he shared a collection of his photographs from the past 14 years with a group of around 50 UCLA community members.
Mendel, a photographer best known for his work with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, shared numerous photographs from his time in Africa, recalling a distinct memory or story behind each one. His collection included photographs of death, funerals, sick people, and people playing and working.
Mendel, who has been a guest at UCLA for the past week working with David Gere, a world arts and cultures professor, opened the event with a photograph taken in 1992.
He explained that when he took the picture, 13 percent of all pregnant women in Africa had AIDS and that today, 33 percent of pregnant women in Africa have AIDS.
Mendel said the guilt he felt as a result of being a white South African, mixed with the fact that his parents were Holocaust survivors, has inspired him to continue his work even when he is faced with the worst of situations.
“I have seen some of the worst things you can possibly see in this world, but breaking down and crying isn’t going to help anything,” he said.
He added that having the camera in front of him helps with the emotional difficulties of his job.
Overall, Mendel said his work is more than just taking a picture.
“In general it is more than just coming and going,” he said. “It is a matter of being in a situation and people being comfortable with your presence in their lives.”
This lecture was a culmination of an eight-day workshop Gere organized, with Mendel leading the project.
Students were paired together and teamed up with someone in the L.A. community who has HIV/AIDS.
The students were to photograph the victim and keep a written account of their experiences.
The assignment simulated Mendel’s book, “A Broken Landscape: HIV & AIDS in Africa,” which documents photographs of the AIDS epidemic in Africa along with corresponding quotations and personal stories.
Gere, the founder of the world arts and cultures course Make Art/Stop AIDS, has made Mendel’s book required reading for the class.
“Mendel gives a voice and image to people who are infected and affected by AIDS,” Gere said.
Emily Feldstein, a fourth-year world arts and cultures student, expressed her appreciation for the workshop and the impact that it has had on her.
“Everyone involved in the workshop was so different. We weren’t just working with one type of person. Everyone was from a different part of Los Angeles and had a different story to share,” she said.