Polaroid Polaroid Polaroid: Group Exhibition

MARS is delighted to present our group exhibition Polaroid Polaroid Polaroid. This exhibition aims to raise funds for Living Positive Australia (LPV) by bringing together a snapshot of the MARS community.

 

Inspired by Andy Warhol’s love of capturing the everyday with a Polaroid camera, this exhibition engages with the MARS community to utilise the Polaroid as a medium and object open to personal interpretation.

 

Polaroids are and have been distinctly renowned as an accessible and playful medium of photography. Since its inception in 1948, Polaroids have been beloved by generations for the ability to capture moments with an instant keepsake print. This exhibition was open to all, whether they be artists, curators, or art enthusiasts, to be involved. All sales will help the important work at Living Positive Victoria.

 

To coincide with the Polaroid Polaroid Polaroid display, artist Emil Canita’s series Let Them Know: Why and How to Share Your HIV Story will be featured alongside the works.

 

Let Them Know: Why and How to Share Your HIV Story was developed in response to a long-standing gap in how HIV disclosure is supported in Australia and globally. 

 

The series grew out of peer-led HIV disclosure workshops that began during COVID-19, a period of heightened isolation and uncertainty.  Shot in domestic, intimate, and everyday settings, the images foreground moments of closeness, trust, and vulnerability rather than spectacle or disclosure as an event. The people pictured come from diverse cultural backgrounds and life experiences, reflecting the multicultural reality of people living with HIV in Australia today. Each image is paired with a verbatim quote drawn from the participant’s own story. These fragments do not attempt to explain a life in full. Instead, they function as partial disclosures, gestures that invite curiosity, recognition, and care. 

 

Developed by and for people living with HIV, this national campaign reflects voices from across the country and across the serodivide. It reframes disclosure not as something driven by fear or obligation, but as a gift. Knowing someone’s HIV status is a privilege. The works presented here form part of a national poster campaign distributed through clinics and community organisations across Australia.

 

 

Living Positive Victoria is a not for profit, community-based organisation representing all people living with HIV in Victoria since 1988 and is committed to the advancement of human rights and wellbeing of all people living with HIV. 

In response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, Living Positive Victoria was created as a safe place to provide support and advocate those living with virus. The demand for services increased over the years and the organisation has now grown to a team of 16 individuals providing workshops, peer-support and activities that increase the mental, emotional and social wellbeing of those living with, or affected by HIV. Living Positive Victoria also works closely in partnership with a range of HIV-sector and other organisations to deliver a comprehensive and coordinated response to the needs of PLHIV in Victoria, nationally and internationally. Living Positive Victoria’s services reach a member base of more than 1,600 individuals, their partners and family members and their families across all races, ethnicities, genders, ages, and sexual identities.

 

Exhibition donations will directly support people living with HIV, as well as fund programs to help them connect with the community. The community sector lost 25-30% of its funding because of Victoria’s “COVID overspend”.