Ellen Spiro’s Early Documentary Films: Challenging Normative Cultural Productions of HIV/AIDS through DiAna’s Hair Ego (1989) and Invisible Women (1991)

Abstract

Many cultural and scientific discourses about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the late 1980s further marginalized those who were infected with the virus, especially vulnerable populations such as women of color and drug users. Ellen Spiro’s early documentaries, directed as part of her work for the activist organization ACT-UP, maintain a strong opposition to these normative conceptions of HIV/AIDS at the time. This article analyzes two of her documentary films: DiAna’s Hair Ego: AIDS Info Up Front (1989), and Invisible Women (1991, co-produced with Marina Alvarez). In both films Spiro empowers vulnerable populations and makes their stories visible, highlighting the protagonists’ efforts to offer and find resources and to denounce both the inability of the governments and institutions to address the problems of women with AIDS and the lack of information about HIV/AIDS in communities of color.