For Immediate Release: 12/4/09

Access to Life Exhibit at the African American Museum and
Library at Oakland Portrays the Fight against AIDS  

Images from Eight Renowned Photographers Chronicle the
Dramatic Effects of AIDS Medicine on Patients around the World

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( Oakland, CA)— On Wednesday, December 9, 2009, Access to Life, a landmark photographic exhibit, opens at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO; 659 14 th Street, Oakland). Featuring powerful images by photographers from the agency Magnum Photos, the exhibit chronicles the transformative effect that access to free antiretroviral drug treatments is having on AIDS patients around the world. The exhibit closes February 27, 2010.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee collaborated with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Magnum Photos and Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to bring Access to Life to AAMLO.

“On the heels of World AIDS Day, Access to Life reminds us again that AIDS is not a U.S. issue or an African issue, it is a global issue,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Fighting this epidemic is a priority of mine both here in the ninth district and around the world. This exhibit aims to raise awareness of the fact that American investments in the fight against AIDS are working, and we must continue to lead this fight by supporting the Global Fund and other effective efforts.”

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums emphasized the local relevance of the exhibit along with its international significance. “People in Oakland and people on the ground in Africa share the burden of this terrible disease,” said Mayor Dellums. “Just as we need prevention, testing and treatment services here, people around the world need them too. Although we must remain vigilant in the fight against AIDS, Access to Life inspires hope, even in the face of great challenges.”

Working in partnership with the agency Magnum Photos to create Access to Life, the Global Fund sent an international team of eight photographers to nine countries in the fall of 2007, and for a second visit four months later. Their aim was to document the dramatic impact of treatment on more than 30 individuals and their families. By telling these stories through photographs, text and multimedia pieces, the Access to Life exhibit graphically documents the positive impact that free antiretroviral drug treatment is having not only for the individuals portrayed, but on the lives of millions of AIDS patients around the world.

The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. To date, Global Fund financing has put 2.3 million people on antiretroviral treatment, provided 3.7 million orphans with education and medical services care, and given 537,000 HIV-positive pregnant women medicine to prevent transmission of the disease to their children.

“More than four million people who otherwise would have died of AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria are alive as a result of Global Fund programs,” said Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Through this exhibition, we want to show Americans the amazing power we have to save lives through simple means and what it means for ordinary people around the world to get a second chance at life.”

The Access to Life photographic team included Americans Jim Goldberg, Eli Reed, and Steve McCurry; Canadian Larry Towell, Norwegian Jonas Bendiksen; Italians Paolo Pellegrin and Alex Majoli; and Frenchman Gilles Peress. In India, Haiti, Mali, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland and Vietnam, the photographers created visual chronicles that encompassed their subjects’ lives both before and after drug treatments.

Please refrain from wearing scented products to library events. The Oakland Public Library is a department of the City of Oakland.

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