The painting above represents to me one of the most strikingly tragic elements of the epidemic – how overwhelmingly alone the individuals who were directly affected by AIDS must have felt. Many of the victims and their lovers were each other’s worlds. The exhibit noted that many of them were estranged from their families; they were all that each other had. When one of them was taken by the illness, I tried to imagine how lost the other must have felt, and it was terrifying. To me, this painting illustrates an intimate, simple, and powerful image, of one person taking care of another person who means the world to him. One person willing to sacrifice himself (many people didn’t know how the disease was transmitted, so people often absolutely avoided both anyone who had AIDS and anyone who took care of someone with AIDS) for another; tragedy intertwined with beauty.