The Netherlands

The Netherlands has a population of nearly 18 million (2024). By the end of 2022 around 24400 of them were people living with HIV. (PLHIV) 22000 of them were receiving HIV medical care. An estimated 1400 people don’t know yet that they are infected with HIV. 62% of the infected population are gay men (nearly 14.000) 19% are women. (4,120)
The number of new HIV diagnoses dropped from nearly 1200 in 2010 to 393 in 2022. The estimated number of HIV infections in 2022 was even lower: 140.

30 years of hiv and aids

1982-2011, The Netherlands

1983

Michèle

“My young years prepared me for my HIV. People with untroubled youths have it a lot harder. I've become a professional in traumatic matters.”
1984

Erwin

“When the bereavement card arrived, I thought: another couple of years and then I'll end up like Ruud, in an envelope like this with a gray border.”
1985

Jos

“I've bowed to the inevitable. I have a virus that my genes can pretty much handle.”
1986

Kenneth

“I didn't come to the Netherlands in 1986 to live, but to die. But until the turn of the century I hardly saw a doctor. I never entered a hospital.”
1987

Han

“All those people who are no longer here wanted to go on living. Like me. That places on me a great responsibility to make the most of it.”
1988

Marjolein

“It has to be a bit rough. For me it's not purely about the esthetics. Maybe I'm done with beauty. I'm looking for life in my photos.”
1989

Peter en Michael

“People who realize that they're dying are good to live with. There's no more mess: all that’s left is what’s essential.”
1990

Hestia

“Photos are allright. But it's best if I'm not recognizable in the image.”
1991

Erwin

“On the way to the car, on the way to the first aid. Strange, I always thought that the love of your life was going to carry you over the threshold only into the house, not out of the house.”
1992

Harrie

“Model, performer, junkie, stylist, columnist, collagist, jester, host, creative consultant...”
1993

Cam

“I don't want my children to learn from a photo in a book that their mother has AIDS.”
1994

Erik

“Humor! Laughter! I haven't much longer to live, they say... They don't get it at all.”
1995

Terror

“The shame and fear that make it impossible to say to the rest of the world: I'm seropositive, I'm infected with HIV.”
1996

Jerry

“It was a German boy. We were together for no more than a year. He was the love of my life.”
1997

John

“At my afternoon get-together, everyone there caught HIV from the rain and is only taking vitamin C.”
1998

Sjoerd

“I still had ten T4 cells. I was put in a room. Alone. To die, because I was too sick for HIV medication. The outlook was catastrophic.”
1999

Nico

“I often sat on the deck alone at night, looking at the stars and the sea. I found it beautiful. The moonlight, the waves.”
2000

Peter

“Contrary to my great vulnerability in everyday situations, I'm very confident in my sex. And I love learning, it's that simple.”
2001

Marck

“In Paramaribo the streets were full of Colombian and Venezuelan beauties. The kind of flowers that made your head explodes.”
2002

Marlies

“The hardest thing is to decide when I'll tell them. I don't want them to grow up with a secret.”
2003

Ellen en Linda

“Ellen: Was I angry? Linda: Yes, you were really angry.”
2004

Liesje

“And I still have to get an injection. How can that be right? I don't see the sense in an injection.”
2005

Frank

“It was all in my head. Physically I was quite healthy. Even up to now I'm still doing without HIV medication.”
2006

Anne

“The first test was good. At the second test, after two months, everything was still okay. But with the last test, after three months, I turned out to be infected.”
2007

Bas

“Eventually I want some kind of retreat or farm in France. Together with a husband and some goats. Lots of goats.”
2008

Anton

“The behavior of that director in particular knocked my socks off. Because I was so open about my HIV, he fired me.”
2009

Casper

“So I made an appointment. Called Thursday for one on Friday. As soon as possible! It was bad! There was a different doctor, who tossed out the cruel words...”
2010

Eddy en Jan

“I spent 4 years as an alderman with HIV. Without knowing. I worked 80 hours a week, but had no trouble at all. That's possible.”
2011

Alex

“I'm 31 and live near Rotterdam. By profession I'm a gardener. My hobby is beekeeping. Life with an HIV infection is still new to me.”

Erwin Kokkelkoren followed and interviewed 30 people with HIV and AIDS, all living in the Netherlands.
Erik Smits portrayed the 30 men and women in their own domains.
Smits’s photography, together with quotations from Kokkelkoren’s stories, gives a unique picture of the human history of 30 years of HIV and AIDS in the Netherlands.
The dates with the portraits refer to the year when these people were confronted with their HIV or AIDS diagnoses.
Only 1982 is missing, the year of the first AIDS diagnosis… There are no survivors from this year.

In April 2012, all the stories and pictures appeared in the book “The Time There-After.”
Sadly, two men are no longer with us. Harrie (1992) and Nico (1999) have passed away since then.

“I miss him every day”

Netherlands

“We immediately asked if we could have babies. But I wanted to be hundred percent sure that my baby would be healthy...”

the Netherlands

The time there-after

“That bad reaction motivated me to do this work.“

THE NETHERLANDS

Speaker, activist

“But the situation in San Francisco was totally different then in Amsterdam.”

The Netherlands

The Netherlands

The Netherlands

30 years of hiv and aids

The time there-after

Speaker, activist

Looking for Curtis

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