The Bonham Project

Jon O'Neal, artist

born 1957

The Bonham Project, 1989

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: gelatin silver print; cardboard

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 229 x 381 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 9 x 15 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 16 x 20 in

Credit line: Gift of the artist

Accession number: 1993.0304

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body

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.

Healing, Knowing, Seeing the Body

Archive Label 2003:
Jon O’Neal, a KU graduate, created a series of photographs that were inspired by his experiences as a medical intern participating in one of the military’s first rounds of systematic tests for the AIDS virus. These photographs address AIDS on several levels. They depict the male body, male sexuality, men who live with the knowledge that they are HIV positive, and a grid that suggests the repetitive pattern of examining and being examined.