Images of poverty

New York, New York, on the way to the ECMO conference in Colorado - an excuse to go skiing? Travel was proving difficult, so I ended up getting a stopover in NYC as I was able to catch up with family as well (oh, and buy some essentials that I'd kind of been putting off for a while in terms of clothing: underwear!), and see a friend or two...

Spent the afternoon at the International Center of Photography museum where there were a number of shows on, all due to end tomorrow. The one that I'd heard about was called ¡Che! Revolution and Commerce and was based upon the iconographic image that Alberto Korda had originally taken. Unfortunately, I'd misread it or misinterpreted or something, and thought that it would be an exhibit of other (Cuba) photos by Korda but instead it was a mish-mash of art work by various different people around the world, in different situations, that were based upon that same image. Examples including various Cuban souvenirs, an icon of Christ designed to replicate Che (as an attempt by the Church of England to entice young people back, or into, religion, and make it appear "cool" again), a construct of Che from the corporate emblems that have come to dominate the Western world (and most of elsewhere also) - and no doubt one day who will try to dominate Cuba too.

But more interesting were some of the other exhibits - one on Society and Health, the impact of life such as child labour, the agricultural industry and migrant workers, aging in our current society and the impact of longer lives on lifestyles, the culture of medicine and primary care in the ER; another looked specifically at the lives of Appalachian miners in South Virginia, the present day poverty compared with 60 or 70 years ago, children and families playing and relaxing and off-duty; a final one the images of the aftermath of war with amputee swimmers, the mental scars of anguish, the lifelong disruption of destruction; accompanied by an essay by Sebastao Selgado on the polio eradication program.... I would write more but the links are temporarily not available in the archive and I don't want to misrepresent...

In any case, a fitting start to a medical holiday.