All of the photographs, except for those under “Training Curriculum” and “Links” were taken by Sandra Hoover and Saul Bromberger, whose statement is here:
A Statement From The Photographers
In the summer of 1992, we were hired to document the first weeks of operation of the Bailey-Boushay House, a skilled nursing facility and day health program for people with HIV/AIDS. Our assignment was to complete a photo essay for Virginia Mason Medical Center's Review Magazine, a publication of the Seattle hospital that operates the facility.
After 4-5 weeks of shooting, several things happened that compelled us to continue
the project. We realized we were in a fantastic and incredible place where great caring and love was taking place, without judgment, for people living with AIDS in their last months of life. We witnessed sacred acts of compassion and caring by families, to sons and brothers and sisters and wives and husbands living with AIDS. We observed the caring and support of health care workers and volunteers that went way beyond their job descriptions.
We knew that with our talents and experience we could produce a body of work with enormous emotional impact that could move people to take meaningful action. We decided to model it after the photographer Eugene Smith's Minamata book project, which was about a Japanese fishing village whose citizens were poisoned by mercury dumped into their water system, in the early 1960's. We hoped to publish the photographs in local and national publications. And, we saw this project as an opportunity to see what we're made of as documentary photographers.
During the course of the project, we did get the work published in a number of places, including LIFE, The Seattle Times in a big Sunday spread, and The Seattle Weekly. We were awarded three grants, including a Washington State Artist Fellowship Award in 1993, which helped greatly with our expenses.
Working as a team, we came to understand how each other works and thinks, and about our strengths and weaknesses. We visited Bailey-Boushay 3-4 times a week, working with 5-7 clients at any one time. We got to know the people well, and after a short time of working on the project, clients looked forward to our photo shoots with them with great anticipation. Many clients asked for prints to give to their families, and to staff members they had become close to.
We met many wonderful people who were very sick from living with AIDS, and we repeatedly witnessed sad and emotionally draining scenes. It was good that we had each other to talk to about what we were seeing.
Saul did all of the printing listening to music that moved him emotionally such as Gregorian chants and old Israeli folk songs (he is Israeli), as it helped him to interpret the same feelings we felt while working at Bailey-Boushay. We knew that for the images to be successful, they needed to connect with people emotionally and spiritually.
We will never forget the faces and the bravery of the men and women living with AIDS at Bailey-Boushay who allowed us to witness their last months of life, so that the public may gain awareness about the disease.
Sandra Hoover
Saul Bromberger
June 2002
For more photographs from Portrait of Caring: Living with AIDS at the Bailey-Boushay House, please visit Saul's & Sandy's website at www.saul-sandraphoto.com.
