The Big Disease with the Little Name

maria denise yala

Project Description

Almost 40 years into the AIDS crisis, talk of the disease seems to have fallen off the radar outside affected circles. The Big Disease explores two new forms of telling stories around HIV in a bid to spark discussion for a new audience. Inspired by the ways that marginalized people and groups have historically told their own stories, the work employs latrinalia i.e. toilet graffiti and fairy tales as unconventional story formats. AR Disclosures is an interactive documentary installation that uses augmented reality latrinalia to critique stigma and discrimination. Once Upon a Virus is a hypertext fantasy story that uses fairy tales as a critical device to examine societal attitudes towards disease. This thesis draws on public domain, queer, and feminist storytelling approaches to retell and revision the story of HIV while contributing to a developing definition of what the practice of storytelling is and looks like today.