Note: this post is incomplete, though I am uncertain - given there are 'not enough hrs in a day' - it ever will be. On September 14 I had the great pleasure of attending the Ethics, Aesthetics and Epidemiological Photography conference at Cambridge, and I wanted to share with you some of what I found to be the more memorable moments of this great, and intimate event. Here is a brief summary of the talks: An interesting line of discussion that came up through all the various presentations revolved around the question "what is epidemiological photography?" and "Is there such thing as an epidemiological photography?" After watching the presentations from historians about visual archives of epidemics in Asia and Europe, I would say there is certainly a distinct way of photographing epidemics, historically, that is different than picturing health, or healthcare (focused on visually representing practice), which is distinct, again, from medical photography (focused on symptoms or typologies). Ari Larissa Heinrich, the keynote speaker, talked about how medical photography has moved from being about life embodied in illness, to removing that life, objectifying the disease through focusing on the organ/tissue effected, without considering the patients - what he termed a necromemesis of medical photography. Another presenter echoed this visual reductionism in relation to AIDS photography - specifically in medical AIDS Atlases from the mid-1980s to the late 2010s. He traced the way personal signifiers at one time were included in the description of visible symptoms of infections related to AIDS (e.g., captioning a photo as "Lesions on a 23-year old caucasian male homosexual"). Such captions, which reinforced a ideological view of AIDS, presenting it as objective/authoritative science, would slowly disappear from the Atlases as the social and medical understanding of the disease became more sophisticated. There were three photographers talking, in a roundabout, way about their moral imperatives and ethical approaches to photographing health issues. I really wanted to engage, push them further on these points, but to do so requires much more delicacy and time; these are sensitive issues and artists are sensitive people (even if they present an arrogant or confident exterior). There was some talk about aesthetic form and the roles of 'reality' and 'objectivity' in these aesthetics of 'photo documentary', but mainly from a historical perspective (e.g., why photographs of diseases were taken in the early days of photography, making a disease 'real' though images and captions). This real/authority of photography is something that I would like to explore further from a contemporary perspective: the 'making real' a vision of socio-politico-economic determinants of health vis-a-vis justifying humanitarian healthcare (and its related geopolitical / biopolitical implications) with a medium that is inherently limited in its ability to provide historical information to current events; another project, for another day... Each of the three anthropologists presented three different uses of photography in their work. One was using photographs, her own, of her informants, to enable spectators the ability to glimpse the embodiment of decades of (often colonial) medical research in their community (Niakhar, Senegal). Her photos invite viewers to learn more about the complex interrelations (sometimes paternalistic, sometimes its opposite - whatever that would be) of being the subjects of study. Another anthropologist used photography to illustrate what he was studying - chickens in the recent bird flu outbreak in Nepal this past summer. And the third anthropologist, Margaret MacDonald, whom Elysee knows from the Athro Department at York, presented about visual images in recent campaigns to raise awareness of global maternal health (what she described as being the latest 'cause celebre' in spectacular humanitarian health circles - the ones that celebrities and famous philanthropists latch to). I hope she will contribute an essay to our Picturing Humanitarian Healthcare blog on her review of these images strangely not including images of pregnancy or childbirth, but (and more neoliberaly perhaps) a presentation of female education, independence and empowerment. As for the photographers: Paolo Petruno - has done work with MSF and presented on his moral impetus, his modes of practice and his ethical lens. He was wonderful, and very open to talking about his rationales for taking photos and his approach. Dimitrios Bouras - presented his images of the rise of intravenous drug use and increase of AIDS among the population of users in Athens, Greece. I didn't get a chance to talk with him much. I got the impression one-on-one, in a different space, would have been better. Karren Visser is a photographer employed by the Kenyan Medical Research Institute taking photos of children with Autism is Africa. She had an approach that was fascinating because it overlapped traditional photojournalistic practice and institutionalized medical research ethics board requirements. I enjoyed hearing her talk in a way that proved she had a sensitive moral compass (partly from training, but also personal) that enabled her to enhance the bureaucratic ethics. She was very articulate and open to talking about these issues. All the presentations were fascinating, it was very exciting. There was so much presented, so much just touched upon, and too little time at the end for much discussion. Breakout sessions would have helped the discussion as there was such a diversity of interests (disciplines) represented, despite the topic apparently being very specialized. Regardless, it was a great place to network - with photographers, visual artists, immersive environment artists, historians, anthropologists - and I look forward to seeing how they might contribute to our website. Acknowledgements: There is no way I would have been able to attend this event had it not been for my co-curator, Dr. Elysee Nouvet, and the other co-authors of this presentation (who are also part of the editorial board of the Picturing website), Dr. Philippe Calain and Patrick Brennan. And most especially, I thank Dr. Lisa Schwartz for suggesting and supporting the concept and reality of the Picturing Humanitarian Healthcare project. Finally, this goes without saying all too often, so it bears being explicit sometimes, so thank you to my husband and children for their understanding, enabling me to go on these adventures. Thanks for all your help in enabling me to attend.
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