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Okay. Today is December 1st 2022. We are here at the Studio House at Walbridge celebrating World AIDS Day or Day Without Art. I'm wondering if you might tell us your name. Sure, my name is Johan Orjuela And what brings you here tonight? So what brings me here tonight is definitely support, and-and and really wanting to honor the memory of-of those who have lost their lives to-to AIDS.

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Are there any folks that you think of when you-who you would like to honor today? Definitely some of the artists who died in the late 80s and early 90s like Keith Harrington. And you know, people that I know who are very connected to me and yeah, other things that connect that I connect, so yeah. And, for you, and you talked about some of artists, could you tell me a bit about what the-what does art mean for you in this context, and-and-and why is that been so important for you? What it means in the context of?

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Well I guess, in the context of your-your own life, in the context perhaps of activism. Art for me has been like this form of expression that can be more authentic. And, that allows for people to express that which, you know, many are not able to say or verbalize. And it's another, another form of expression. It's another form of creating memory. It's another way of documenting, something usually is a feeling or an idea. So, in general-in general, I am a big fan of art, and-and I appreciate it for what it is. That's wonderful. One of the themes for today's film was being and belonging. Do you have any sense of how that might-how you might interpret that-that in your own life? Being and belonging? Well, both concepts of being seem to be hard to perhaps experience, to be is hard. So it's hard to just be yourself. Or hard to be in-in this world in some ways. And belonging is another hard thing to experience, to belong to a group of people or belonging even to your family can be a challenge. So, that's what comes to mind when I think of being and belonging . And, at the same time, how important it is to feel and experience a sense of being. It could be being free-feeling free to be yourself, feeling free to express yourself, and feeling like you actually are able to connect with people or or experiencing that connectedness with others, which hopefully allows for you to never experience loneliness.

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Are there any other things you'd like to share with it? I guess, you know, for-in terms of remembering World AIDS Day, you know, this affects the LGBTQ community tremendously. It's like another layer of circumstance or circumstances that triggered that subtle trauma that we belong as a community. So, not only do we experience these deep wounds that I have learned lately. So, I'm a psychotherapist by training or professionally, and I've been learning how some deep wounds affect the LGBTQ community and they are, you know, rejection, betrayal, abandonment, injustice. And there is another one. Hopefully, I don't mess this up. It's okay. Should we stop?

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No, no don't worry. Actually, I just realized we're recording with this microphone. We're good. Okay, so you know this-the idea that there-there may be still a lot of people suffering to AIDS or HIV. It's-it's another wound that the LGBTQ community has to deal with, and I just want to honor and-and also respect and-and I feel privileged to be living in this time and hopefully we, in the future, don't have to suffer as-as much some of these wounds. Mmm-hmm and remembering and honoring those who are the kind of survivors with those wounds. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. And hopefully we are able to find a way to continue to express ourselves and find a way to be and belong.

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Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you.