Rivier College Art Gallery features 'Dying In Vein'

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Rivier College Art Gallery features ‘Dying In Vein’

The Rivier College Art Gallery will feature “Dying in Vein: Blood, Deception . . . Justice” (The Making of a Documentary Book), which features photographs by Kathy MacKay, an award-winning photographer who worked in collaboration with writer Milbouer and graphic designer Kathy Bouchard to produce a 2004 book about hemophiliacs afflicted with the HIV and hepatitis viruses.The exhibit opens with a reception Thursday and runs through Tuesday, March 1.MacKay and Milbouer, through photographs and words, have documented the journey of many hemophiliacs who were infected with the AIDS and hepatitis viruses due to tainted blood supplies in the 1980s and highlighted the work of those who are fighting to bring to justice the drug companies responsible. MacKay’s husband, , died in 1997 at 33 as a result of HIV and hepatitis C contracted from infected blood products.“We are amazed by the people we met during the years we’ve worked on this project,” the authors wrote in the introduction to the book. “All of them are inspirations. This is a testament to their spirit.”The images and text in the exhibit are intended to provide a glimpse of the book. There are selections from each of the book’s four chapters: “The Afflicted,” “The Mourners,” “The Warriors” and “The Torch Bearers.”“The Afflicted” features portraits of those infected with HIV and hepatitis.

“The Mourners” depicts those whose loved ones were killed by deadly blood products.“The Warriors” highlights the men and women who have committed their physical and material resources to the causes affecting the infected community.“The Torch Bearers” celebrates those afflicted hemophiliacs who are embracing life and those survivors who are keeping alive the memories of their loved ones felled by AIDS and hepatitis.MacKay’s work as a freelance photographer has appeared in the Boston Globe, The Telegraph, the New York Times and The Washington Post, among other newspapers and magazines. A photo published in “Dying in Vein” received a first place award in the 2000 Gordon Parks Photography Competition.Milbouer has spent her 25-year career as a journalist writing for daily newspapers and currently has a weekly column in The Telegraph. In addition, she writes poetry and short stories that have been published in a variety of literary journals and other forums.Bouchard is a freelance graphic designer who has also taught music and art in various private and public schools and is presently an assistant high school librarian.All three women are from the Nashua area.

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