illustration sketches for Artist Against AIDS

There is a NGO (non-governmental organization) in Belgium, called The Comrads.  Their mission is to help others fight against AIDS, primarily through medical research.  They host an annual art exhibit aimed at raising money for AIDS research, and I am planning to submit something for that.  I spent a few hours researching the history and origin of AIDS, in order to have some idea for what I will create.  The whole deal is quite interesting, but do keep in mind there are several theories for how it began and spread.  

The short and sweet version is AIDS likely began in the early 1920s in Africa, when the virus existed in a similar form (called SIV instead of HIV) in chimpanzees.  The local people got the virus by eating the chimpanzees, and the virus was able to spread on a bigger scale in Africa first during the colonial periods and regions, where many Africans were put into forced labor. This is because the SIV virus has an easier time penetrating the laborers who were not in good health condition, and were further passed on to others through the prostitutes employed to keep the forced labor happy.  With the advance of transportation vehicles and the expansion of international trade, AIDS was thus passed onto the areas outside of Africa, where it was advanced even further by a host of other incidents, most of which was possible due to the lack of awareness of the disease and how it works.

For my illustration, I want the idea that life is precious as the central theme, because that is the reason we are fighting epidemics such as AIDS.  Therefore, most of my sketches have a baby in there, representing the preciousness of life.  I also try to include the "globe" or a map of the earth in my sketches, as AIDS underscores the connectedness of the people who inhabit this earth.  The evolution and story of AIDS underscores that fact.  Everything we do affect everybody else, even if that effect is not easily or directly observable.  As such, I try to include these "story" elements.