Snap Out Stigma is a community-based project created to address HIV stigma in the Mid-South region. In 2019, Latrice C. Pichon, PhD, MPH, CHES and Andrea Stubbs, PhD, MPA founded this initiative in response to unmet needs of many individuals living with HIV.
Using photovoice, this project storytells how individuals with HIV feel and see stigma in their daily lives a result of their positive diagnosis.
Mission
Increase conversations surrounding HIV to stop the spread of HIV through open communication.
Purpose
The purpose of Snap Out Stigma is to better understand internalized stigma* experienced by people living with HIV, as well as how the Mid-South community and its leaders can better address HIV-related stigma within their community.
*Internalized stigma refers to when a person takes in the negative ideas and stereotypes about people living with HIV and starts to apply them to themselves. HIV internalized stigma can lead to feelings of shame, fear of disclosure, isolation, and despair.
Exhibit
In 2019, 35 individuals living with HIV were provided a camera to document ways that they experience stigma in their life as a result of their HIV status. Over the course of several months, these individuals met in focus groups to discuss these photos and how stigma has impacted them personally. Each individual was then interviewed by the project team to understand how stigma plays a role in each of their lives. The resulting photographs, focus groups, and interviews were used to weave the story of each individual, then create storyboard to detail parts of an individual’s journey with HIV stigma. These storyboards create the exhibit portion of this initiative.
Funding
Snap Out Stigma obtains funding through the Gilead Sciences COMPASS* Initiative® — a Southern AIDS Coalition Transformative Grant.
*COMmitment to Partnership in Addressing HIV/AIDS in Southern States
Snap Out Stigma 