Co‐Creative Multimodal Storytelling on HIV: Activating Images through Reflexive Authorship

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article explores ways to foster reflexivity within a co‐creative research project so as to “activate” images beyond the ethnographic encounter. Drawing on a multimodal research project centered on exploring autobiographical HIV storytelling in Chile, I explore reflexivity as a shared practice from the outset of fieldwork rather than an ex‐post activity, as it has historically been conceived. This reflexive practice led to unexpected outcomes which emerged through co‐creative engagement with a multiplicity of mediums and formats. I argue that image‐making and storytelling became devices for actively disrupting HIV stigma, thus making it possible to engage in forms of worlding and self‐making that extend beyond HIV representations and across different temporalities.