On 28, 30 and 31 August 2021, a workshop on HIV stigma and discrimination was held with the aim of exploring the views of people living with HIV (PLHIV) and artists, using a combination of a virtual forum and a body mapping technique in a formative, generative and creative way.

Two groups participated: a group of 6 people living with HIV (PLHIV); and a group of 4 artists trained in the techniques used by virtual means (WhatsApp). Dr Rosaida Ochoa Soto and Dr Olga Saavedra acted as facilitators and organisers, and Psychologist Norma Guillard Limonta was part of the organising team.

Poem

By Marta Sánchez

Life marks your body
Sensations and fatigue
that run step by step
the pace of our days

A map of conditions
That drag with their expertise
The balance of minds
In search of justice

The wheel of fortune
Stigmatises no one
Nor discriminates in its wheel
Nor walks with greed

Nor lets you be devoured by minds dispossessed
Of those small kindnesses
Where it dances day by day
A stage of solidarity
That turned into a workshop
Brought very sensitive stories
Six compatible presences
With a devoured pain
But strong and tight in the fight to win –
Art was present
As a gift of the day
The singer, a filmmaker,
The artisan, a transformist
who accompanied the step
where together they shared

It was a very tight programme
But well, well-conceived
Enthusiastic teachers
To the rhythm of poetry
Who battle the price
Of respect for life.

Participants in the workshop in Havana took part in a bodymapping exercise. Using the phrase “When I think of HIV stigma, I think of ...”, participants drew their bodies on paper or painted a human figure. They identified the thoughts, assumptions and emotions that relate the word ‘stigma’ to the different parts of their bodies. The idea was for them to create a body map of their silhouette and place the different emotions they experience when they think of stigma and discrimination by writing, drawing, sticking objects, whatever comes to mind and is easiest to develop.