Your Most Stunning Photographs of Disease, Please.

October 20, 2009 6:28 AM

I'm compiling a set of 30-40 photographs related to any and all aspects of disease for a high school visual literacy project. The students are high school juniors who are struggling with literacy and writing. I'd love your suggestions for compelling, diverse, and striking images and sites that have collections of same.

The theme is deliberately open-ended, and can include images from medical and scientific history as well as depictions of illnesses, medical epidemics, and attempts to treat and cope with disease. This could include everything from Sebastiao Salgado's photographs of the distribution of the polio vaccine in India and Africa to the (in)famous Benneton "Pieta" photograph. The goal is to find images that provoke thought, convey information, and tell stories.

I need to include background information on the photos (such as context, description, photographer, title, date, and any copyright information) so any suggestions that have this would be very helpful.

Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions!

posted by foxy_hedgehog to society & culture (3 comments total)

Here's a collection of photos related to the eradication of smallpox (looks like they're mostly in Africa).
posted by oinopaponton at 6:41 AM on October 20

The National Library of Medicine is a good place to start. Their History of Medicine division has a searchable Image Database , as well as a number of online exhibitions.

The Wellcome library also has a searchable database of images from the history of medicine.

Avert has a neat little collection of posters related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as some other HIV-related images.
posted by googly at 7:34 AM on October 20

I think this poster is a very compelling portrayal of the effects of Parkinson's Disease.
posted by OilPull at 8:28 AM on October 20