Photojournalist and multimedia producer Anne Medley documented stories of Montana residents quietly living with HIV and AIDS across the state as a part of her master’s project in journalism at the University of Montana. See her project and read a full description below.
Tom Freeman calls Montana “Big Lie Country.” A former farmer and rancher on 117 acres in the Mission Valley, Freeman now lives alone in a small house outside of Ronan; his once strong and toned body now feeble and frail.
Since his HIV infection at a gay guest ranch 12 miles from his Ronan home in the early ‘80s, Freeman has worked to educate Montanans about the presence of HIV and AIDS in Montana, a constant struggle in a predominantly conservative state. Yet after years of losing friends and partners to AIDS, Freeman now finds himself too tired emotionally and physically to continue.
In the small eastern Montana town of Roundup, pastor Sandra Jones tells a different story. Infected with the HIV virus by her second husband, Jones relives the horror of watching him succumb to AIDS and explains how her Christian faith keeps her going today despite her HIV+ status.
In September 2008, 101 sections of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt came to the University of Montana in Missoula. During opening ceremonies, Rick Holman, a long-time resident of Butte, inducted the panel he made for his partner Tony who died of AIDS in 1997, beginning a healing process that he poignantly and candidly shares with viewers.
These stories, documented by photojournalist and multimedia producer Anne Medley as part of her master’s project in journalism at the University of Montana., aim to give voice to the many Montana residents quietly living with HIV and AIDS across the state.