Shoes make point on HIV

DURHAM -- I probably should have been touched by the number of shoes. Instead, I was struck by the variety.

Air Jordans next to the Nine West pumps next to the weathered wing tips next to the preppy Talbots skimmers.

They were all lined up this week as part of a short-lived art exhibit of 252 pairs of shoes at N.C. Central University. Each pair represents one young black adult in North Carolina diagnosed with HIV last year. The display ends today.

The shoes were donated; they didn't belong to those diagnosed last year. Yet using shoes -- an item nearly everyone has and certainly everyone needs -- was a simple but effective way to show students that people like them, wearing the same kind of sneakers, loafers or sandals, will live the rest of their lives with HIV.

The Timberland boots, the Kenneth Cole flats, the New Balance running shoes, the Cole Haan slides -- worn, and representing a life lived. They conjure a story. Some are stylish, some are practical. Some are slightly worn, some are well-kept. Each probably carefully selected. Each a reminder that not just one type of person is at risk. The virus that causes AIDS can affect anyone having unprotected sex.

Eleven student groups, including several health educator groups, collaborated on the exhibit. On Tuesday morning, they set out the shoes to represent the 169 men and 83 women ages 20 to 29 who received diagnoses last year.

One of the goals of the exhibit, which comes down this afternoon, is to encourage students to get free HIV testing today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the school's Student Union building. It's an important goal: According to the Centers for Disease Control, black youth make up the largest single group of young people affected by HIV.

The tests are designed to be quick and easy, with testers using swabs from gums rather than needles to get results. Students should get confidential results in 20 minutes, and counselors will be available to discuss results.

"We hope this will show that everybody can affected by HIV," said Ahmed Finoh, an NCCU junior and president of Project Safe, the school's HIV prevention group, which collaborated on the project. His old Nike sneakers were just one of the donated pairs of shoes that students organizers spent the last month collecting.

On Tuesday, honor students from the school's art department took over, setting up the shoes in spiraling circles held by a red rope with each pair outlined in white. The exhibit was designed so that students could take a meditative walk among the shoes, said NCCU art instructor Chad Hughes. The shoes make an impressive statement in the heart of the school's Bowl, the grassy gathering space just behind the James E. Shepard Memorial Library.

Once the exhibit is taken down, the shoes will be donated to various charities, including the Alliance of AIDS Services, Goodwill and the Salvation Army.

And, the organizers hope, students will see that the value of their shoes, so carefully selected, doesn't compare with the value of their lives.