JUDGES REFLECTIONS

A WORD FROM MARION LYNCH:

Art reorients our thinking, it helps us make sense of our world, sharing our sensibilities, showing how others see the world, and shaping cultural norms and social practices that unite us as humans across time and space.

We wanted to create a collection that provides a visual commentary to accompany the facts and research and to incorporate the experiences of inequality beyond what words can say.

Through the Open Call, we asked for art and images from across the world, we invited health professionals, artists and activists to show us their world, and they did.

We ensured that the ethics we live by were part of the process, from the consent of subjects in photographs to a clear connection with the place or person.

We aimed to ensure silenced voices could be heard. We circulated the open call widely and provided translations in five languages. We shared the open call with many artist communities and also invited submissions from the health sector. Nurses and other health care professionals were invited to contribute, whether as the subject of the art, the person taking the picture or as the artist.

We reviewed the hundreds of images and we as the judges from across the world settled on these few. The images help us all to view inequity, they enable us to see what others see, they frame the words so we see more than we would see alone.

So we share this art, we invite you to connect and reflect on what these images say, using the common language of art as part of our humanity and our health.

In my work as a global health consultant and nurse, I specialise in how the arts help health. As the lead judge on this project, I have been humbled by the stories told and pictures shared. I hope these images hold your attention, help your understanding of gender inequality and hasten your action to address social injustice.

Dr Marion Lynch