SHANTI PROJECTS:
INTIMATE HISTORIES OF THE AIDS CRISIS
Shanti: A Sanskrit word that translates to inner peace; or rather “the peace that surpasses all understanding.”
Shanti Projects is an online exhibit documenting the work that Shanti Project performed during the early decades of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. Since 1974, Shanti has provided psychosocial peer support counseling to people with life-threatening illnesses and their loved ones in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. During the early years of the AIDS crisis, Shanti rose to the challenge by creating groundbreaking services for people living with AIDS/HIV. For much of the 1980s and 1990s Shanti was one of the largest AIDS organizations in the U.S. The plurality of the exhibit’s title reflects the vast array of people’s experiences at Shanti during that time period, as well as those who work with Shanti today.
Visit this exhibit here.
All Photos by Judi Iranyi
Caption:
A Shanti Support Group: Unknown, Ginger Pappas, Alan Pugh, Marta Segovia Ashley, Unknown, Judi Iranyi
-Back Row: Timothy Swinick, Gail Winston, Unknown -Front Row: Robert Leone, Andy Dobbs, Unknown
-Back Row: Dan Bellm, Will Shank -Front Row: Stan Roberts, Jacqueline Peoples, Christian Haren
Andres Gonzalez and Mary Richards
-Back Row: Unknown, Peter Sieglar, Jim Bell -Middle Row: Unknown, Unknown, Anne Block -Front Row: Michael Neely, Sean Spies, Brian Cleary
-Back Row: (L-R) Unknown, Paul Gonzalez, Unknown -Middle Row: Unknown, Unknown, Unknown Front: Tony Albert, Randy Harvey
Group of Five
Unknown, Christopher Sandoval, Alan Pughe, Tighe Foley, Claire Vidaro
Unknown, Unknown, Nitsa Marcandonatou