Herb Ritts

12 cities over 12 years. The latest installment of @throughpositiveeyes introduces the Seattle-based artivists will tell their powerful stories at the Gates Foundation Discovery Center @discovergates several times a week virtually. Through Positive Eyes: My Photo, My HIV Story features photography, stories, sculpture, and video created by people living with HIV/AIDS in cities across the world. In each city, a photography and storytelling workshop is conducted, putting cameras in the hands of people most deeply affected by HIV. Combined, these works show a broad picture of the epidemic and coalesce around a belief that challenging stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS is one of the most effective methods for combating the epidemic. @herbritts

Happy Birthday Gianni. Forever missing you. Milan 1991 @versace @stephanieseymour #karenmulder... @helenachristensen @lindaevangelista @cindycrawford @claudiaschiffer @herbritts See more

The Divine Miss M’s expansive body of work has been recognized with four Grammy Awards, two Academy Award nominations, three Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, nine American Comedy Awards and she continues to give back and support many charities including the New York Restoration Project, which is dedicated to protecting community gardens. Wishing @bettemidler a divine 75th birthday today. @herbritts

On this December 1st, World AIDS Day and Giving Tuesday, we remember those we lost and know there is still much work. In keeping with Herb’s commitment to matters connected with HIV/AIDS the Foundation continues its support and encourages you to applaud just a few of the many organizations working to make a difference in the lives of so many including: @amfar... @aplahealth @bailey_house @blackaids @desertaids @ejaf @housingworks @persadcenter @projectangelfood @theaidsmonument @throughpositiveeyes #WorldAIDSDay2020 @herbritts

The original. Sean Connery, Hollywood 1989 @herbritts

Calling all goblins, ghouls, werewolves and vampires. It’s Halloween weekend @herbritts style. #herbrittsbackstory 1. Interview with the Vampire, London 1993... 2. Jack Nicholson, Wolf, Los Angeles 1993 3. Claudia Schiffer and jack Nicholson, 1993 4. Gary Oldman, Dracula Hollywood 1992 5. Winona Ryder and Gary Oldman, 1992 6. Johnny Depp, Edward Scissorhands, Beverly Hills 1991 7. Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp, 1991 8. Joel-Peter Witkin and Son, Albuquerque 1988 9. Vincent Price, Los Angeles 1989 10. Mask, Hollywood 1989

Tony with Body Mask, Joshua Tree 1985 @herbritts has donated this image to the Los Angeles Center of Photography’s (LACP) 5th Annual Fundraising Gala on 10/24 A Love Letter to LA". LACP is a non-profit arts center dedicated to advancing the photographic medium, as well as offering public programs focused on under-served children. Over 100 amazing images are available via Artsy in direct support of LACP. @la_centerofphoto @artsy

Join the #HerbRittsAtHome Challenge: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/herbrittsathome/

Math IS easy with help from Herb Ritts. DONATE TODAY to @projectangelfood COVID-19 Emergency Fund and Herb Ritts Foundation will DOUBLE your money (aka multiply... by 2 ) up to $10,000. Herb Ritts Foundation + YOU = Meals for people in Los Angeles who are most susceptible to COVID-19 #foodismedicine #foodislove See more

It’s down to the final days to experience the Through Positive Eyes exhibition at the Fowler Museum. Wrap party featuring performances and storytelling on Wednesday February 12, 2020. @Through Positive Eyes Fowler Museum at UCLA Herb Ritts

Artivist: artist, activist. Through Positive Eyes incorporates storytelling in the gallery performed twice weekly by seven HIV-positive Angelenos known as the Los Angeles Through Positive Eyes Collective. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons, the Collective will share their photographs and their personal narratives, engaging in direct dialogue with museumgoers. Lynnea: ‘I grew up thinking it was impossible for me to have a child.’... When you’re a person living with HIV, you need your friends to get past the stigma and to share moments of genuine love. I think I was born with HIV. My mother has it, and one of the ways it can be passed on is from mother to child in the womb. Often people give me more sympathy than they give someone who contracted HIV through drug use or sex. They say it’s not my fault and I didn’t ask for it. But who asks for HIV? The only difference between me and other HIV-positive people is that I don’t know life without it. I grew up thinking it was impossible for me to have a child. I failed to plan for my future because I couldn’t imagine having one. As an adult, I began hearing about a decrease in mother-to-child HIV transmission, using a new treatment regimen. After consulting with my doctor, I made the decision to try [for a baby]. HIV is no longer terminal. It’s a chronic treatable disease, like diabetes. So my doctor gave me the green light. In the past, doctors preferred a caesarean birth, to minimise blood sharing, but, following medical advice, I was able to have a natural birth. I wanted my child to have the best possible outcome, and that’s how it turned out. I had prayed for a girl, and the ultrasound confirmed it. She would be the remixed version of myself, so I scrambled the letters of my own name, Lynnea, and created the most beautiful name I could imagine: Nae’Lyn. Nae’Lyn is my life. She’s a happy, healthy, HIV-negative little girl. She’s sassy, spunky and very opinionated. She sings in church. She remembers everything. She is the sweetest little girl I’ve ever met. And here I am, looking forward to being an old woman, decades from now. Photograph: Lynnea, courtesy of the UCLA Art & Global Health Centre, with thanks to unaids.org