U-M Medical School's "Looking for a Silver Lining: Art in the Time of Covid" exhibit offers smartphone photography from the staff

VISUAL ART

 Kelvin Chou, M.D. Professor of Neurology Department of Neurology, ​ Family Walk

Family Walk by Kelvin Chou, M.D., Professor of Neurology, Department of Neurology

​It's easy to dismiss the Instagram-ification of the art of photography, but any democratization of creative endeavors should be celebrated. Smartphones allow everyone to chance upon one perfect shot and capture that moment, often with stunning results.

The University of Michigan Medical School's new online exhibit, Looking for a Silver Lining: Art in the Time of Covid, offers a collection of smartphone photography from those who work there, from doctors and project managers to nurses and administrative coordinators. 

Art Coordinator Grace Serra writes:

This Smart Phone Photo Exhibition has been design as a way for us to come together and to share the things that have carried us through these very challenging and unprecedented times.

Due to the remote nature of our work over the past year, we are now glued to screens.  This exhibition uses the screens of our smart phones to record our world and to bring us closer together and to share the good things that have helped us through this crisis and to inspire others during the difficult times ahead.

Pictures of dogs, home offices, nature, kids, families—the stuff you might normally see on Instagram—make up the bulk of the exhibition, and it's a sweet peek into how the U of M Medical School's folks documented their time apart from one another during the pandemic.


Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp.