Life for children with AIDS is very complex, they have an uncertain future, and a very complex present. Sometimes the children are cared for by their parents, but it is more common for the relatives or grandparents of the AIDS infected children to provide the care, because most often, the AIDS infected parents are sick and in no condition to care for them, or they are dead.

There are many cases in which these children are neglected and abondoned, or where a judge decides to leave them in the public hospitals.

In most cases, after the commotion surrounding the initial illness is over, the resiliency, tenacity and courage exhibited by the children, their parents and family and the hospital staff is amazing.

The future for the children who carry the AIDS virus is always uncertain, because, were a cure to be discovered their lives would be radically altered .

Love is a fundamental contributing factor to the health of the people infected with AIDS. And, while the love and attention won't cure them, it is does prolong their life expectancy.

In most of my pictures I do not show the patients faces because I want to preserve their identities from a society that stigmatizes and condemns those who bear the AIDS virus. That is why I decided to use masks, or other objects, to obscure the identity of the subjects in my photographs.

Helen Zout