The Bonham Project (arm/chest views), Jon O'Neal

As a physician and photographer, Dr. Jon O’Neal was tasked with studying the bodies of HIV-positive individuals as part of one of the U.S. military’s first systematic studies of AIDS. O’Neal became fascinated with understanding how a supposedly ill body—one infected with HIV—could show no obvious external signs of disease. His photographs were taken in a makeshift studio set up in The Bonham Exchange, a nightclub in 1980s San Antonio, Texas. O’Neal’s anonymized, disembodied images encourage us to consider how seeing bodies can at once feel intimate—even voyeuristic—and impersonal.

Exhibition Label: "Contemporary Photographs: Rethinking the Genres," Oct-2000, Rachel Epp Buller As both a photographer and a physician, O’Neal approaches the male nude from a scientific rather than strictly aesthetic viewpoint. O’Neal began The Bonham Project in 1985 when he was a medical intern participating in one of the military’s first rounds of systematic tests for the AIDS virus. The men O’Neal examined were HIV positive but bore no outward signs of the disease. His scientific display of torsos, as well as his exclusive focus on the male rather than female body, positions his work as unusual within the artistic genre of the nude. Exhibition Label: "Windmills to Workshops: Lawrence and the Visual Arts," Jul-2004, Kate Meyer O’Neal earned his bachelor’s degree in art history at KU in 1979 and his medical degree in 1985. As both a photographer and a physician, he approaches the male nude from a scientific rather than strictly aesthetic viewpoint. O’Neal began The Bonham Project in 1985 when he was a medical intern participating in one of the military’s first rounds of systematic tests for the AIDS virus. The men O’Neal examined were HIV positive but bore no outward signs of the disease. His scientific display of torsos-as well as his exclusive focus on the male rather than female body-positions his work outside the stereotypical canon of the artistic genre of the nude.