Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, global health problems like diabetes and heart disease continue to harm millions every day. This is exactly what the Global Health Photography Exhibit sought to display.
The Emory Global Health Institute (EGHI) opened the exhibit last fall to the public in Emory University’s Chase Gallery in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts and closed Feb. 6, 2022.
The exhibit featured photographs from the EGHI’s annual photography contest. Students enter photographs they have taken while conducting projects centered around global health in low- to middle-income countries. The photos should illustrate different facets of health including social and political issues that impact the health of communities.
The student contest was created in 2008 by Jeffrey Koplan, EGHI’s former director and vice president for Global Health at Emory, and Robert Yellowlees, an Atlanta businessperson with an eye for photography.
According to Rebecca Baggett, the Emory Global Health Institute’s director of Student Programs, Koplan and Yellowlees thought the photography contest would be an excellent way to intersect global health and the arts.
Baggett said the contest provides Emory students to document global health issues and better connect with the communities they were serving for health projects.
The 2021 contest allowed submissions based in the United States due to the pandemic and limited ability for students to travel. This year’s exhibit centers around the health issues that continue to plague Americans.
“We believed that turning the lens on the U.S. at this time was appropriate because of our country’s ongoing struggles with COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy, health disparities impacted by racial and social justice issues,” Baggett said.
The exhibit features 10 photographs contributed by students from a variety of Emory schools.
Cody Henry (24G), a student at Rollins School of Public Health, submitted a photograph titled “Untitled BLM,” which depicts feet with “BLM” painted on the right foot and a tag on the left foot listing the cause of death as racism. In the image description, Henry cited the Center for Disease Control’s 2021 declaration that racism is a public health crisis.
“It was born at the intersection of some of my career goals and passions for wanting to help eliminate racialized health disparities, but also taking a proactive approach to clearly stating racism as an issue in our society,” Henry said.
Henry hopes the image makes viewers feel reflective.
“I would hope it asks powerful, moving and uncomfortable questions,” Henry said. “The image should not make the viewer feel comfortable because it is an uncomfortable reality that we face as humanity.”
Chase Porter (22G), a student pursuing his masters in business administration and public health, submitted a photo titled “Raise Your Voice, Raise Your Brush.” Porter’s image depicts a street artist painting a mural. The photo was taken in a busy promenade near the San Felipe del Morro castle in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"Puerto Rico had been devastated by Hurricane Maria, and we all watched as a seemingly neglected American territory fought for the same aid that mainland America received,” Porter said.
A mural next to the artist translates to, “Promises lead to poverty.”
"I think we all seek meaning and connection with what we consume, hoping it maybe energizes or drives positive change within us,” Porter said. “So, I imagine that some aspect or another of what I captured through my viewfinder that evening in San Juan meant something to someone, wherever they are in life,” said Porter.”
Another image, captured by Sophia Lamb (23G), a student pursuing her master’s in public health, shows a hiker on Mist Trail next to Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park of California during the pandemic. Her image is titled “A Misty Trail.”
“During the lockdown and stay at home orders caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, people began to feel stagnant as they spent more and more time at home,” Lamb said. “This sparked a wave of interest in getting outdoors and visiting the beauty of the United States, especially the national park system.”
Baggett said she hoped the exhibit forced visitors to ponder the various public health problems in the U.S.
“I hope visitors are moved to take some type of positive action to improve health in their own communities,” she said.
Baggett added, “The Emory student photographers this year deserve a lot of credit for taking photographs that make the viewer think and compel them to act.”
