In an effort to increase sales and drive more traffic to my archive as well as look through older photos I thought I would start posting images that meant something to me. The image can be found in my Photoshelter Archive.
In 2006 I went to Thailand for the second time and spent three months photographing children and adults infected with the HIV virus. Within my first two weeks in Thailand I met a beautiful young girl named Joopjang at the Mercy Centre in the Klong Toey Slum in Bangkok. I spent a day and a half just holding her hand and taking pictures of the other curious children as they came and sat with me. Her hands were soft and feeble and even though we couldn't speak in the same language she showed me with her eyes that she appreciated me being there. She could barely get out of bed when I first arrived at the Mercy Centre, but as the weeks went on she regained her strength and even began to laugh and smile. This photograph was taken at the end of my stay at the Mercy Centre when she was peeking out of her window, looking at the other children as they ran along the walkways of the center. This was my first experience with the HIV virus and the stigma surrounding it in Thailand and Southeast Asia as I began to photograph this essay.
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