CDC Art Show Exhibits 'Consequential Matters'

Too often, art and science are treated as opposing forces considering their subjects in contradictory fashion. An artistic look at something might focus on the warmth it exudes or the emotion it drives, while a scientific look can be a cold, hard assessment of the facts. But sometimes facts aren’t enough to convince and art isn’t sufficient to spur action. Treated together, though, art and science can both persuade us with passionate arguments and increase our understanding of our world.

The Global Health Odyssey Museum at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta is bringing together art and science for a look at our world in the exhibit, Consequential Matters, from June 15 - September 11, 2009. The show consists of the investigations of four Atlanta-based artists of the consequences of urbanization, technology consumption, indulgence and globalization.

"We want to address the audience on an emotional level, an instinctive level,” explained Carl DiSalvo, assistant professor of Digital Media at the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech. “We asked ourselves, how do we use the skills we have in taking the scientific data and making it more visceral and not hide the emotion and experience that lies behind the data.”

The title of DiSalvo’s and Ph.D. candidate Jonathan Lukens’ exhibit, “Smog is Democratic,” is taken from sociologist Ulrich Beck. The installation looks at particulate matter, the dust and debris that people produce as they wear away at the city, according to the artists. It’s comprised of five pieces in all.

"Particulate matter is not just man-made, it’s evidence of life. Life leaves a residue,” explained DiSalvo.

To illustrate this, their piece “Do you see what I see?” is comprised of 25 images of common sources of particulate matter. The images were all taken in the greater Atlanta area.

"We wanted to give people an idea of where this pollution comes from, so we made a list of sources and photographed what we could find,” said DiSalvo.

In another piece, “Smog Alert Days 2008,” they combined a four-minute video clip of a flyover of I-85 with daily particulate matter measurements of the city of Atlanta.

"We used the data to change the image, so that the image comes to represent the data. Part of the image shows the flyover without any effects. The other half shows an image that gets more distorted as the particulate matter measurement gets higher,” said DiSalvo.

Other pieces in “Smog is Democratic” juxtapose images of Atlanta with data from the smog alert days so that those alert days appear as holes, either in white or gray in the image. One piece compares that image with an image of a home air filter, giving the viewer an idea of the entire scale of the visible spectrum of pollution.

"We’re trying to bring together a scientific approach to the data with an artistic approach, so that we can creatively interpret this data and address the audience on an emotional level,” said DiSalvo.

Another exhibit in the show is “High Tech Trash,” a look at the trade in electronic waste, such as computers, cell phones and hard drives across Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States. The photo essay, by National Geographic photographer Peter Essick, chronicles the workers who mine these discarded products for reusable metals, while exposing themselves to health risks.

"XLounge x 3” by Atlanta sculptor Mark Wentzel has adapted three iconic Eames Lounge Chairs and Ottomans to make a comment on American consumption.

The show can be seen at the CDC’s Global Health Odyssey Museum through September 11 from 9AM to 5PM weekdays and 9AM to 7PM on Thursdays. Admission and parking are free.

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UGA Symposium to Address Ways to Bridge the Global Health Care Divide

The University of Georgia College of Public Health and the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute will host the second annual Global Health Symposium titled “Social Determinants of Inequalities in Health II: Continuing the Global Conversation” on March 24-25 at the Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences.

Co-sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Health Scholars Program, the event will bring together national and international public health experts with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of how socio-economic status, socio-political environment, race and ethnicity contribute to inequalities in health across the globe.

“This meeting represents the college’s first step toward future collaborations on understanding the social determinants of inequalities in health with researchers from abroad, in conjunction with the W.K. Kellogg Health Scholars program,” said Dionne Godette, assistant professor of health promotion and behavior in the College of Public Health, planning committee chair and former Kellogg Health Disparities Scholar.

“We are looking forward to hosting current and former Kellogg Health Scholars as well as representatives from federal, state and local organizations concerned with fostering change around inequities in health,” she added.

Panels and presentations during the two-day afternoon program will target issues ranging from international to national and state level health inequalities, as well as the impact of discrimination on health access, human rights and immigrant health. A poster session featuring research from student and faculty participants also will be held, with awards going to the best graduate student and postdoctoral fellow posters.

Dr. Ichiro Kawachi, professor of social epidemiology and chair of the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, will deliver the keynote address, “Social Determinants of Health Inequities: The Global Problem,” at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24.

Kawachi has published over 350 papers as well as several books on the social and economic determinants of population health, and serves as the editor of the social epidemiology section of the international journal Social Science & Medicine. Since 2000, he has served as the director of the Kellogg Scholars in Health Disparities program at Harvard.

The Kellogg Health Scholars Program is funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and managed by the Center for the Advancement of Health. This two-year post-doctoral fellowship program seeks to develop new leadership in the effort to reduce and eliminate health disparities and to secure equal access to the conditions and services essential for achieving healthy communities.

There is a registration fee of $15, and the symposium is open to the public. See www.globalhealth.uga.edu for registration, maps and hotel information.

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