A Positive Life is a collaboration between photographer Mary Berridge and writer River Houston, who together received the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize in 1996 for their revealing interviews and artful photographs that detail the emotional and physical struggles of women nationwide living with HIV. The women featured in the exhibition come from a variety of backgrounds: some were IV users and prostitutes, one is a film actress and a lawyer, one a published poet, one a college student, another an artist. A Positive Life is a moving portrayal of strength, survival, and resolve and is a heartfelt message of hope and power for all women everywhere.

Huston, the poet laureate of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was drawn to the project as a woman living with HIV. In her introduction to the exhibition she writes, "I have often been the one interviewed; the one answering the questions . . . frequently misquoted, misunderstood, or censored beyond all recognition." Huston and Berridge, who teaches photography at Princeton University and was awarded an Ernst Haas Prize in 1996 for her extraordinary color photography, have created honorable portraits that provoke compassion, faith, and humanity.

Living with HIV/AIDS in the Triangle, consists of photographs, poems, installations, and mementoes contributed by area artists, caregivers, and families who felt compelled to respond in a creative way to the impact of HIV/AIDS on their own lives or the lives of those close to them. Visitors to the gallery will be encouraged to add their own thoughts and artwork up until the close of the exhibitions in May.

These HIV/AIDS exhibitions were made possible by support from the following organizations: the Lyndhurst Foundation, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Elizabeth Firestone-Graham Foundation, the Trent Foundation, and Duke University's Women's Center.