In celebration of World AIDS Day, a photo exhibit depicting the healing power of dogs among HIV patients is sending out messages of "joy, love and survival."
The Huffington Post reports award-winning photographer Jesse Freidin captured the wonderful effects of having dogs around 30 hopeless people struggling with AIDS. The exhibit entitled "When Dogs Heal" opened for reception in Chicago on December 1 and will have another opening in New York on December 3.
"My goal as an artist is to reinterpret how we view HIV," Freidin said. "To move away from the stigma and the blame and the fear and all of these things -- they're so outdated. The only way we can change people's minds and talk about survival and have a contemporary understanding of this illness is to tell a new story about it."
"When Dogs Heal" is co-funded by the non-profit organization Fred Says which aims to raise funds for HIV-positive teens. The organization's founder, Dr. Robert Garofalo, is one of those photographed by Freidin along with his dog, Fred.
Garofalo has dedicated his career to treating teenagers with HIV when he found out he acquired the disease in 2010. "I was in a really dark place in my life," he recalled. "I was acting out, taking bad care of myself, wasn't able to make good decisions for me and my health."
After a year filled with horrible episodes (he also received a cancer diagnosis, suffered a breakup with a long-term partner and got beaten in a street assault), Garofalo decided to get himself a dog which he called "the most selfish thing I have ever done."
Garofalo brought home a Yorkshire Terrier named Fred who gave him a whole new light. "I wasn't sure peace and joy were ever going to be possible again," he said. "Fred brought them back to my life -- an ability to laugh that I thought was gone forever. And he doesn't even know it, he's just sitting here letting me rub his belly."
Previous studies have proven that spending time with dogs could cut down stress-levels, lower cholesterol levels and boost self-esteem.
