Exhibits

05-01-13

Tao of Motherhood "Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." -Lin Yutang

Maternal and Infant Health in Ghana

This May, I want to honor motherhood by drawing attention to the fight for maternal and infant health care around the world. I visited Ghana in 2012 with the UNFPA and was able to see firsthand the struggles women in that country face accessing adequate health care for themselves and their children. Ghana, a relative success story in Africa, is but a microcosm of a much larger problem. Women all over the developing world and impoverished women in the developed world face a very different reality than most of us have known as we welcomed our children into the world.

Ghana has long been known as Africa’s “Golden Child” because it has enjoyed long periods of relative peace and prosperity. A vital part of Ghana’s success are the long-standing policies the country has had in favor of maternal and reproductive health. Because of these policies and because of the efforts of the UNFPA, efforts launched in 1972 to ensure maternal and reproductive health, many Ghanaian women have access to adequate medical treatment during pregnancy and childbirth.

However, even with government policies and non-governmental organizations like the UNFPA working to ensure maternal health, the maternal mortality rate is still too high (350 deaths per 100,000 live births) and only half of all births are attended by skilled personnel. For all its economic vitality, Ghana still has a distinct divide between the north and south. The more rural northern area suffers from much higher rates of infant and maternal mortality and a fertility rate at nearly twice that of the rest of the country. One of the disparities between pregnant women in urban and rural areas and between the educated and uneducated is access to well-equipped facilities staffed by well-trained midwives and other medical professionals.

The rural north is also plagued by teenage pregnancies and girls in the 15 to 24 age group account for approximately one-third of all births every year. These young girls rarely have access to adequate family planning information and services.

As I traveled throughout Ghana in October of 2012, I was able to witness the valuable and effective work done by the UNFPA to address these issues. I met women who were faced with giving birth in less than ideal circumstances. I saw the importance of trained midwives to ensure the health of newborns and their mothers. I documented the strong communities of women that develop around childbearing, childbirth, and child rearing. In a country that is still very much a patriarchy, the women of Ghana, with the help of organizations like the UNFPA, are working to address the needs of women and their children.

It’s true, being a mother is a right and a blessing, but becoming a mother without adequate access to quality health care can be a tragedy.

Exhibition Dates: May 1 – May 31, 2013

Every Mother Counts

Friends of UNFPA

Global Giving

02-20-13

HomefrontUSA War's Impact on the Home Front

The reality of war hits the home front hard. Deployments suspend life: fathers miss out on many firsts; mothers carry the burden of family life in their absence; and children grow up with a parent spending more time at war than at home. And that’s just life during deployments. When tragedy hits, as it has all too often during these protracted wars, dreams are destroyed. Families have to learn to live with a permanent absence and a heavy sense of loss.

But the battles don’t end when war does. As soldiers return from Afghanistan and Iraq, we see how reintegrating into life at home can be a battle as well. Many soldiers come home with physical injuries or psychological wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder, military sexual trauma, or traumatic brain injuries that tax everyone in the family.

Home Front USA looks at the sacrifices (small and large) that our military men and women and their families make in the service of our country; it also considers the monumental challenges facing our military communities and our nation as these wars draw to a close.

Exhibition Dates: February 15 – May 30, 2013

Protect Our Defenders

Invisible War

Navy SEAL Foundation

Higher Ground Sun Valley

Play

12-01-11

MOMENTS CAPTURED A collection of images from ten years behind the lens

2001-2011

Moments Captured is an exhibition that covers a wide range of topics from behind-the-scenes images of SEAL training, to detention centers and prison life in Afghanistan, tribal and wildlife in East Africa, and the winter life of the American cowboy. This collection of photographs explores worlds very few of us are able to witness first hand. When you first see these photos, you understand that Stephanie’s images are a study of power—the raw sort of power of a Navy SEAL or the distressing lack of power of a child, orphaned and displaced. But when you look a while longer, you are struck by the way these photographs offer a more complex story. Stephanie’s work shows the vulnerability of that Navy SEAL, a man as well as a warrior who struggles with the fear of failure or the pain of leaving his family. And you see the strength in that orphaned child—a strength that sustains hope for a better life. You see the sacred beauty in a lion or the tenderness of a cowboy with his horse. Moments Captured is also a show about paying attention to the world around us as well as the world we rarely see. It’s an exhibition that pulls back the veil for a moment and reveals the many stories behind it.

Exhibition Dates: December 1, 2011 - December 1, 2012