Adrain Chesser, a Florida based photographer, decided to take a different approach to revealing his AIDS diagnosis to close friends. Chesser captured the exact moment he revealed the illness in these incredibly powerful photographs.
“When I thought about having to disclose my illness to my friends I would panic, which didn’t make sense, because I have an amazing group of friends who are all very loving and supportive,” Chesser told The Huffington Post. “I realized that these intense emotions where actually based in my childhood fear of abandonment. Growing up gay in a small town in a very religious family, the fear of being found out and cast out was always present and right under the surface. It occurred to me that if I ritualized the act of telling, that it might be possible to transform these childhood fears that were still effecting me as an adult.”
These photos are really quite amazing and heartbreaking.
You can see all of the photos from the collection here. All photographs via Adrain Chesser.
