AIDS victims show their stories — in pictures

updated 2:57 p.m. ET June 10, 2008

LOS ANGELES - In one photograph, a group of boys in possession of a much-used soccer ball mug comically for the camera, arms and legs going every which way.

Another shot, another charmer, depicts a child turning an exuberant handspring for a circle of young admirers. But the picture titled "Children Raising Children" delivers a punch to the gut: It shows a boy of 7, maybe 8, with a baby in a makeshift sling tied firmly to his side.

The youngster's arm is casually and tenderly draped around the infant as he smiles for the photographer; the boy's faded, yellow T-shirt is ripped, but the baby wears a cap with a jaunty pouf of pink yarn on top.

The photo gallery, online and traveling in the United States and overseas, is unlike others about AIDS and Africa: The images are both joyous and wrenching, and they were shot by women and children who are caught in the pandemic that has killed and orphaned so many.

Photographers from the outside often capture only unrelieved tragedy; those inside can tell a fuller story, say the Los Angeles-based founders of "The House Is Small But the Welcome Is Big," created to focus attention on the AIDS crisis and promote action.

The pictures were taken by 18 AIDS-orphaned children from Maputo, Mozambique, and 15 HIV-positive women in Cape Town, South Africa. An exhibit opens this week at a Denver art gallery, Gallery M, and will be seen in New York, Los Angeles and internationally.

Photos and stories about the people behind them are online at http://www.thehouseissmall.org. The title is drawn from a needlepoint displayed in a tiny Cape Town home featured in the project.

"In the past, documentary photographers went in, photographed people and left them to tell their story," said Dr. Neal Baer, a physician, TV writer and executive producer ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit") and co-founder of "The House Is Small."

Audio slide show Stopping HIV at birth Three HIV-positive mothers in the African nation of Lesotho share their concerns about passing the deadly HIV virus to their children.

"That can be compelling and important," Baer said. But with the advent of good, cheap cameras, "we've been able to go into these countries and give people who were traditionally disenfranchised the opportunity to tell their own stories and show their own lives."

Baer, whose credits include the TV series "ER," has long been interested in using storytelling to illuminate social and health issues. (Last weekend, he attended a United Nations meeting of entertainment leaders and U.N. officials, including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, that coincided with the Jackson Hole film festival in Wyoming.)

It was Baer's discovery of the pioneering work of Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Jim Hubbard that eventually gave birth to "The House Is Small" project.

In the 1980s, Hubbard was a news photographer in Washington, D.C., with a passion on the side: He gave cameras to homeless kids so they could capture their world; their photos and others were collected in a book, "Shooting Back." Hubbard also formed an organization of the same name that has inspired a growing number of such projects worldwide.

A child can live in the most dire situation, Hubbard said, lacking running water or shelter or enough food, and "yet, you come along with a camera and they almost unanimously fall in love with it."

Last year, Hubbard's quest to give children in hardship "a voice for their despair" was recognized by the National Child Labor Committee, which bestowed its Distinguished Service Award for his "lifelong pursuit of the truth with his camera."

Hubbard, now a director of Los Angeles-based Venice Arts, a nonprofit arts organization that teaches photography and moviemaking to low-income children, was contacted by Baer about bringing his approach to AIDS-stricken Africa. Baer drew on his entertainment industry contacts to help with funding, including some close to home: "Special Victims Unit" stars Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni and series creator Dick Wolf were among the contributors.

Don't miss this on msnbc.com Entertainment Blood is shed on ‘Desperate Housewives’ Best bets: De Niro pretends ‘Everybody’s Fine’ Speak now, Tiger, or forever hold your peace In the end, ‘Jon & Kate’ too sad even for fans Tim Burton — the artist — is now on display

"Every nonprofit in the United States wants an angel to appear," Hubbard said. That's the role Baer is playing, he said, turning worthy ideas into reality with his dedication and Hollywood connections.

The first trip, to Cape Town in 2006, was in collaboration with the HIV-AIDS education and support group Mothers2Mothers. Participants included new moms, some of whom were fighting the stigma of HIV by acknowledging their infection and counseling expectant women on how to prevent transmission to their baby.

The next year was to Mozambique, home to an estimated 500,000 AIDS orphans. By 2010, the number of children orphaned by AIDS will almost double worldwide to 25 million, if trends continue, according to a 2002 report from agencies including UNICEF. An estimated 20 million of them will be in hardest-hit Africa.

The children of Maputo were eager to make sure their story was told right.

MORE FROM THE ARTS

American artist Irving Kriesberg dies at 90

American artist Irving Kriesberg dies at 90 Paris exhibit serves revisions of Old Masters New Italian museum has eye toward art’s future Warhol’s dollar bills painting fetches millions Lehman Bros. art is on auction block Warhol portrait of Jackson up for auction AP says artist made up Obama poster story   Add The Arts headlines to your news reader: