Hermeneutic reflexivity and the ethics of ambiguity: Rethinking disclosure in visual HIV research

HIV research often assumes that disclosure during research is both necessary and desirable for participants. This article challenges that assumption by proposing hermeneutic reflexivity as a practice-based mode of enquiry that does not depend on full disclosure of HIV experiences or coherent illness narratives, but rather on co-creation. Drawing on a multimodal ethnographic project with people living with HIV in Chile, we explore how silence, ambiguity and speculation can become central to image-making and sense-making. Hermeneutic reflexivity foregrounds aesthetic sensitivity, mutual questioning and shared authorship in co-creating collaborative mise-en-scène, fostering an ethnographic context in which forms of expression emerge that would not have surfaced through conventional narrative or testimonial methods. Grounded in phenomenological approaches to situated knowledge, this method reduces the risk of re-traumatization while fostering narrative agency, offering an ethical alternative for participatory health research in contexts where full disclosure may be risky for participants.