In support of racial justice
Hi, it’s Katie. You’ve been hearing from a lot of people on this topic, so I’ll keep it short. Black lives matter, and I and Pictal Health stand with the brave protesters in our country and around the world who are fighting for racial justice and speaking out against racism, police brutality, and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others.
Pictal Health is, at its core, about listening and giving a voice to people who have been let down, disbelieved and disregarded by our health system. I work often with women and people with very complicated health histories, but I have rarely worked with people of color. It’s not for lack of need; we know that medical bias against Black people results in higher rates of illness, complications, and death. So I am doubling down on bringing the benefits of health history visualization to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Here are some initial actions I and Pictal Health are taking:
Donating to the Equal Justice Initiative, ACLU, NAACP, and my local Black Lives Matter chapter in Vermont
Doing a lot of reading and self-education to, as @fiveboi says here on Instagram, 'decolonize my design practice’
I will offer some pro bono health history visualization services to BIPOC, starting with my local community but open to anyone, anywhere (please reach out if interested)
I know I can do more, and there will be many opportunities as Pictal Health (hopefully) grows. Please leave me a comment if you have suggestions.
I’ve been educated by the following:
How to help your Black friends and your non-Black friends today
Maintaining Professionalism In The Age of Black Death Is….A Lot
I’ll leave you with a moving visualization from the artist Adrian Brandon’s project Stolen. He says:
“This series is dedicated to the many black people that were robbed of their lives at the hands of the police. In addition to using markers and pencil, I use time as a medium to define how long each portrait is colored in. 1 year of life = 1 minute of color. Tamir Rice was 12 when he was murdered, so I colored his portrait for 12 minutes.”
