Private Story
Medicine
Please note some images included within this portfolio may be disturbing & unsuited for certain individuals. Caution is advised on reviewing these photographs.
At this time of self-isolation, social distancing, cancellations in travel and work postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have decided to review past medical profession photography projects and bring the photographs to the public.
During my career, medicine has repeatedly been among the forums I’ve chosen for long-term essays beginning as far back as in the early 1980s.
From inception to publication, a self-assigned undertaking photographing the staff of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit lasted over a calendar year. The following summer the access to Critical Care Burn Center and the plight of a youngster burned over 90% of her body would be heart-wrenching.
An assigned news conference about a coordinated teaming of surgeons from the United States and Soviet Union expanded into a year-long documentary of a single mother named Svetlana and her daughter Natasha from the Ural Mountains of Russia.
Natasha, a then-six years old little girl, was among the group of children patients brought to Dallas, Texas for cranial-facial surgeries.
Six-months later, joining a follow-up visit to the Soviet Union by the American medical team allowed for photography in Moscow, Leningrad, then a trip to Kungur, Russia for the final photography on Svetlana and Natasha.
The Neonatal ICU project, and Natasha’s story were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Photography.
A commission by the University of Arizona Health Science Center & Medical College “Who We Are Now” is also presented in this portfolio. For six-months total access was granted which allowed for photography produced in emergency medicine, heart surgeries, college classes as well as community outreach. This intimate and inclusive grouping of photographs will give some idea what happens in Emergency Department settings, even today.
A selection of photographs is on permanent display at the College of Medicine.
As I await access to document the hard work and fight against COVID-19 I wanted to take a moment to recognize all the health professionals and support staff of the hospitals that have allowed my cameras in to show the human moments of health care. Without them, none of these captured moments would be possible.
I encourage you to check back for COVID-19 documentation at a later date. Stay safe.
Joe Patronite
Tucson, Arizona
April 2020
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