Photographs documenting the HIV / AIDS epidemic in Indonesia

Andri Tambunan was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and moved to the United States when he was ten. In 2008, after years of working in the corporate world, he quit his job and decided to travel the world. When Tambunan found himself in the middle of Nov. 26 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, his first instinct was to grab his camera and document the series of events that followed. When he returned to the United States, he sold most of his possessions, and started pursuing photography concentrating on social documentary issues around the world. Tambunan holds a degree in Photography from Sacramento State University.

Of this project he writes: ‘In 2009 I started Against all Odds, a project documenting the HIV/AIDS epidemic among indigenous Papuans in Indonesia. Currently, Papua has the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the country, 15 times higher than the national average and the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence outside of Africa. Awareness of the virus among indigenous Papuans is low, and preventive care and sufficient medical support and counseling are also lacking. This issue is currently under-documented and due to political situation in Papua foreign journalists are prohibited access’.