Documentary Photography

FOOD INSECURITY IN COLUMBUS, OH

Since the Kroger in the Northern Lights Shopping Center in North Linden shut down on Dec. 28, 2018 the area has transformed into a food desert. Now the community’s only options for food include an array of fast food chains, dollar generals, and convenience stores where fresh produce is either far and few between or extraordinarily expensive.

A dilapidated drive-through liquor store turned into a hub of fresh produce now helps the 23 percent of families on the South Side who are food insecure. Refrigeration units that used to chill bottles of beer and wine, now cool fruits and vegetables donated from the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and local grocery stores.

It is 10:30am, a half an hour before the market opens its doors and customers who are eager to get the best pickings of produce sit in a semi-circle listening to a woman who preaches about the health benefits of engaging in healthy living and eating habits. She educates the customers on how food makes a direct impact on one’s blood pressure and risk for diabetes.

Produce is available to people with earnings up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The market opens its doors from 11:00am-5:00pm 5 days a week and every day the line for customers wraps around the building.

Clara Bradley, a staff member at All People’s Fresh Market has seen the market advance since its beginnings. She explains how in the beginning, customers were required to take these lessons on healthy living in order to shop, but now that the market is so popular that it’s not feasible to make everyone take a lesson. Now those that show up get to shop first.

Just Breathe

a memoir from the perspective of Maria

Cystic Fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time. A person with CF has cells that are not able to regulate salt intake in and out of the cell membrane, leading to the formation of thicker, stickier mucus. In the lungs, the mucus clogs the airways and traps germs, like bacteria, leading to infections, inflammation, respiratory failure, and other complications. For this reason, minimizing contact with germs is a top concern for people with CF.

In first grade, I was at the water fountain and a boy in one of my classes came up to me and asked why I always take so much medicine. And I responded that I have “cystic iosis” and I have to take it or else I’ll get a belly ache.

One of the worst parts about getting sick is that I start to stress out. I remember seeing this Instagram post of someone who was very active in the CF community. This girl was only 20 years old when she got a bad infection and ended up passing away. Just a couple months before she got the infection she was traveling and fully functional, but once she got sick her body was not able to fight off the infection and she passed quickly. That is why I start to panic when I feel sickness coming on. How do I know that this sickness is not the one that will take my life?

I remember reading the post and crying in my room, because she was literally just here.

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For me sometimes I think that hope can be continuing to believe in an ideal despite major setbacks. Holding on to that greatest idea or vision.

Moments of Rebellion / Times that Call for Change

This collection of images includes snapshots from moments in the past year that show the fight for change. These images do not look alike, nor were they taken at the same places. These variances are what make up the family. Similar to a family, these images are unique, individualistic and international. Despite these differences, this family is rooted in the underlying human desire for freedom, which transcends cultural barriers. The camera acts as my tool, documenting this sense of rebellion; thus, collecting moments that show how a city is defined by its people.

This collection combines photos taken in different countries throughout the year in order to convey a sense of global connectedness. Although, cultures vary and politics make us feel divided, there remains an underlying sense of understanding between the images. All of the images show people overcome by the desire for change in order to create a brighter future. From thousands of miles apart, people are united by the human desire for freedom.

Catalan nationalists protest for independence from Spain. This man stands in a populated city square, silently demanding freedom as indicated by his yellow ribbon and sign which translates to “freedom of political prisoners. These high-ranking Catalan figureheads are currently in prison or under arrest warrants for their role in the ‘illegal’ secession referendum on October 1. Those in favor of the Catalan Separatist Movement argue that they are a separate nation with their own history, culture and language and that they should have increased fiscal independence.

Towering canyon walls encompass one as they float through the borderlands of Texas and Mexico on the Rio Grande River. On the river, the the fragile desert ecosystem teems with life and both banks look the same. For a moment, one nearly forgets that that a National Emergency has been called to build a wall on the border. Not only would the wall fragment the ecosystem, but the remoteness of the place makes the concept of a wall dividing a seemingly arbitrary border seem out of place.

La Estelada Blava, the most popular flag that one will notice on display in Barcelona stands as the symbol of the separatist movement in Catalonia and represents their desire to gain independence from the rest of Spain. In a time as politically turbulent as the present, hanging a flag is the resultant of the human need to identify oneself as a member of a group in terms of political preferences, and to express to the world one’s opinion.