Pathogonia [1]

"Pathogonia" - a pilot project presented on the start page: it is a pilot study of the qualitative research method aimed at reconstructing the trajectories of people who inject drugs with positive HIV status to or away from HIV care and treatment. All photographs and text authored by Vladimir Stepanov. Translation to English was made my Sergei Balabonin and Alex Azarov.

We prepared an on-line presentation to demonstrate how the described methodology and collected data may become an independent, creative learning and research tool. Within the pilot study we conducted participant-led, photographed walking interviews with HIV positive people who inject drugs and with social workers working in programs aimed to accelerate entry into HIV care and treatment among people who inject drugs. This strategy enables us to move from typical locations controlled by the researcher to "atypical" locations suggested by participants – the environments where healthy or risky activities may occur – homes, streets, neighborhoods, or other sites of interest.

"Pathogonia" is a set of illustrations, narratives and voices that allowed us to demonstrate what people see and feel in the day-to-day life of someone using opioids and living with HIV.

All participants were informed about the objectives of the study and agreed to participate. All participants were preliminary familiarized with this presentation and approved its publication in the form it is presented on the website.

[1] The project title is a combination of Patagonia and pathology, representing a mystic place at the edge of the Earth and, at the same time, a local place which has become distant and frightening as a result of a public discourse of fear and stigmatization.