This research looks at how People Living with HIV (PLHIV) are dealing with the discriminations they faced in Singapore. At the time of the research in 2011, a glaring feature I noticed about this group of people was the complete absence of any representation, either in image or in person. In short, they were cloaked in invisibility and hiding under the radar. So I decided to look for this group of people and find out more about their ‘invisibility’. The research title took the name of a star: HD85828, which is supposed to be the faintest star that can be observed with the naked eye under the darkest condition. I used it to refer to the PLHIV in Singapore in this research

The biggest challenge was finding a suitable performance strategy: how to show someone that wants to remain ‘invisible’? I wanted to avoid any abstract representation of PLHIV, or any portrayal that would only be just another form of ‘invisibility’. I felt that they needed to be real. They had to be present and live in the performance, as themselves. At the same, I had to ensure that their well-being and identity were not compromised.

The research had 5 phases over 2 years. The key part of the project was to meet PLHIV in person and interview them. I managed to meet 12 of them and interviewed them. In the end, I gathered about 60 hours of interview material, which was then transcribed over a period of 4 months. The research laid the foundation for the performance in.ViSiBLE, premiered in 2013.

This was part of Associate Artists Research Programme (2011-13) at The Substation (Singapore) and supported by Actions for AIDS (Singapore)

Research team
Concept and performance    : Ming Poon
Artistic advice                      : Alvin Tan, Chong Li-Chuan, Daniel Kok and Joavien Ng