Each year, the Global and Community Health Program and the University Library host the “Envisioning Health For All” student photography exhibit, showcasing student submissions from across campus that represent global and community health topics.
Our five winners were honored at our opening reception in the UC Santa Cruz McHenry Library on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Learn more about their work and the stories behind their creation.
Valden Rattenbury (art) submitted a three-photo series captured and created in Santa Cruz, CA, on the topic of gender affirming healthcare. Pictured is the first of three collaged scans of Rattenbury’s testosterone supplies. Anti-trans legislation in the US is restricting and destroying this very important medical healthcare and research in a harrowing similarity to the Nazi burning of Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute of Sex Research; these photos document Rattenbury’s care in a digital artistic way that is far harder to burn.
Lucia Vitale (politics) submitted a single photo entry exploring agriculture and sustainability in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. This image was captured in the rural Haiti borderlands, where farmer Jean Pierre takes a break from the bean harvest to enjoy a cup of coffee. Jean Pierre’s family has tilled the terraced land outside of the city of Ouanaminthe for generations, but recent droughts have affected crop yields. Jean Pierre worries that his children won’t be able to live off the land in the same way that he has been able to.
Naomi Delaplane-Yusem (global and community health) explores the lives of Indigenous midwives through a three-part photo series shot at Concepción Chiquirichapa in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Guatemalan midwives, or comadronas, carry out prenatal and postpartum health checks in the rural villages of Quetzaltenango. This series depicts how indigenous birth work flourishes, despite the rise of medicalized models of reproductive healthcare.
Emmy Retzler (psychology) entered a single photo submission on the topic of environment and health, taken in Lake Tahoe, CA, where two tiny meadow frogs rest in delicately cupped hands. This image reminds us that the smallest lives serve as a big reminder that protecting the environment is essential not only for the health of humanity, but for all who call Earth home.
Citlali Carcamo-Knight (global and community health) submitted a series of photos about community and herbal medicine taken at the Freedom Community Clinic, located on Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA. This clinic provides apothecary services and a wide selection of herbs, which are free to take. Carcamo-Knight captured friends selecting the herbs of their choice.
