It can be hard to imagine how one person can make a significant difference against something as devastating as HIV/AIDS. As part of an event to commemorate World AIDS Day at our corporate headquarters, I saw a few clips from the documentary A Ripple in the Water: Healing Through Art. I was moved by the story of Kim Berman, an artist and activist who founded the Artist Proof Studio in post-apartheid South Africa to encourage artists and printmakers to develop their artistic skills while also promoting leadership and social change. Through the Artist Proof Studio, Kim has developed programs to use art as a way to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and help alleviate poverty.

Inspired by an ancient Japanese custom of offering painted strips of paper as prayers for healing, the Artist Proof Studio runs an outreach program called the Paper Prayers campaign. The program teaches people to make pieces of art for healing and remembrance, while also raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in urban and rural areas around South Africa.

Embroidery and papermaking provide a vehicle for expression while also enabling women affected by HIV/AIDS to develop products to generate income so they can take care of themselves and their families. Since papermaking is so labor-intensive, embroidery provides an opportunity for women who are sick and weakened by the disease to continue working to support themselves. What I found the most amazing was that these women who are living in poverty reach out into their communities and donate a percentage of their profits to hospice organizations and others. They also pull together to care for those in the community who are sick, and for children orphaned by the disease.  

By empowering women through art, Kim has helped people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS come together as a community to cope with the pandemic and lift themselves, and each other, out of seemingly impossible situations.

The ripple effect has extended to the U.S. as well. One of the film’s producers, Eileen Foti, an Assistant Professor at Montclair State University, talked with us about the impact of the film in New Jersey among schoolchildren for whom the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS and poverty are very real. The film, and a corresponding Paper Prayers project, opened up a dialogue and gave the students a chance to express themselves through art.

 Learn more about the documentary here.