The AIDS crisis shaped queer communities globally, but in the Balkans it overlapped with war, sanctions, and political chaos.
Healthcare systems were collapsing. Information was limited. Stigma was intense.
Photography from this period sometimes carries that weight. You see fragility. Hospital visits. Activist posters. Intimate portraits that feel almost like quiet memorials.
But you also see solidarity.
Friends caring for each other. Community meetings. Protest signs demanding visibility and support.
The camera becomes both witness and activist.
AIDS photography isn’t just about illness. It’s about care networks. About refusing to let people disappear quietly.
In a region already overwhelmed by conflict, queer suffering could easily be ignored. But these images insist on attention.
They ask us to look — and not look away.
