This Camera Is HIV+

Too often, perceptions of people living with HIV are filtered through the disease. So here's photographer Wayne Martin Belger, making that distortion literal with Untouchable (HIV), a pinhole camera that gazes through the liquid filter of HIV+ blood pumping through its works.

Whoa.

Gimmicky? Exploitative, maybe? I was still a little skeptical when I saw this steampunky little device. Burdened with all that conceptual weight, it starts to seem a little... precious. But look at the pictures he takes with it! If the concept is reminiscent of Andres Serrano's body-fluid photos, the pictures that result manage to evoke the unlikely reverence of Serrano's most controversial image.

While you're at it, check out Belger's other camera/sculptures and photos here. Gnarly, morbid, sensational.

[via: BoingBoing]