News

Media Contact:
Steve Christensen
Communications Manager 
312.915.6164
schris6@luc.edu  

CHICAGO, November 10, 2008 — The Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) will begin the holiday season by spotlighting the charitable work of non-profit organization Partners In Health (PIH) with the exhibition On The Same Map: Hope Is a Human Right: A Photographic Journey of Partners In Health.

Running November 29, 2008, through January 4, 2009, the exhibition, which includes 97 color and black-and-white photographs, taken mainly by medical personnel and volunteers, depicts the successful humanitarian efforts of PIH to improve health care for individuals in some of the world's poorest communities.

To chronicle the work of PIH, an organization that began in 1987 with the belief that health care was not a privilege but a fundamental right in today's world, the exhibition uses educational panels and photography to illustrate how PIH has worked with local partner organizations all over the world to establish working medical clinics and to overcome the conditions of extreme poverty that breed disease and despair in areas such as Haiti, Peru, Rwanda, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Guatemala, Russia, and Boston.

With a surprisingly professional eye, the amateur photographers capture the beauty, poverty, and hope of these communities as PIH works to improve their lives. Personal stories and captions accompany the photographs, making the images especially meaningful during the gift-giving holiday season in the United States. The exhibition celebrates the human spirit and reminds us of a different type of gift-the gift of one's efforts to help someone else.

The title of the exhibition comes in part from Susan Sontag's book Regarding the Pain of Others: "To set aside the sympathy we extend to others beset by war and murderous politics for a consideration of how our privileges are located on the same map as their suffering, and may-in ways that we prefer not to imagine-be linked to their suffering, as the wealth of some may imply the destitution of others, is a task for which the painful, stirring images supply only the initial spark."

Public Programs:

Opening Reception and Gallery Discussion
Friday, December 5, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Dr. Paul Farmer and his colleague Dr. David Walton will attend LUMA's opening night reception of On The Same Map and lead a brief discussion in the exhibition galleries. The event, which is open to the public, is free for LUMA members and $15 for non-members.

About Partners In Health
What began as a small, understaffed, and ill-equipped clinic in 1985 currently has 100 inpatient beds, an array of specialists, and three operating rooms. PIH's Haitian partner organization Zanmi Lasante now operates 10 other public hospitals and health centers across central Haiti and has nearly two million patient visits a year. More importantly, the medical care at clinics is free to all HIV and tuberculosis patients, pregnant women, and to anyone who cannot afford the fee charged by the Haitian health system.

The PIH mission is both medical and moral, and it is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When someone in Peru, Rwanda, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of its means to make them well-from pressuring drug manufacturers to lobbying policy makers to providing medical care and social services.

In sharing the benefit of their experiences within a global medical community, PIH acts as the advocating voice of the many people they serve to help direct policy changes to ameliorate poverty. PIH has expanded and has nine locations in countries, including Peru, Russia, Mexico, and three countries in Africa.

For more information on the organization, visit www.pih.org.

On The Same Map: Hope Is a Human Right: A Photographic Journey of Partners In Health is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

About LUMA
Opened in 2005, the Loyola University Museum of Art is dedicated to exploring, promoting, and understanding art and artistic expression that illuminates the enduring spiritual questions of all cultures and societies. As a museum with an interest in education and educational programming, LUMA reflects the University’s Jesuit mission and is dedicated to helping people of all creeds explore the roots of their faith and spiritual quests. Located at Loyola University Chicago’s Water Tower Campus, the museum occupies the first three floors of the University’s historic Lewis Towers on Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue. For more information, visit the museum’s website at LUC.edu/luma.

Art illuminating the spirit!

-LUMA-