Julia Roberts

These photos were inspired by a very wet evening I spent on the 31st floor of the Crown Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne with a ballet dancer called Timothy.

Photos by Laurent. Location: The Silos in Collingwood, Melbourne.

Fagging

Gaëtan is not a common name. But happenchance brings two Gaëtans to opposite ends of an ongoing epidemic.

The first Gaëtan, a French-Canadian flight attendant, died of AIDS in 1984.

The second Gaëtan is a Melbourne based tagger activist. Alive. And kicking.

Gaëtan No.1 was described as "Patient Zero" (the initial patient in a population) in an early study into HIV/AIDS. He took the blame for muliple early infections of HIV/AIDS in gay men across North America and Europe.

Gaëtan No.2 is a Melbourne based fagger (fag tagger) "trying to tag for a greater good". With his distinctive AIDS 8, Gaëtan No.2 is raising consciousness in a population of gay men whose complacency has seen local HIV infection rates soar.

When I spoke to Gaëtan about his work, he told me that "the concept is simple. All you need is to buy a red pen and turn as many 8s into AIDS ribbons as possible. It's addictive and against the law. WHAT COULD BE BETTER?".

Join his group on Facebook.com by searching for Gaëtan Dugas. And get a red pen and start fagging.