VISION

Announcing the inaugural Georgetown - Howard Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice (MHHJ) Theme Imagery Competition and Online Exhibition. MHHJ seeks to foster learning, research, and public engagement at the intersection of humanities, health care, and justice in Washington, DC. MHHJ invites Washington, DC-based artists to submit original images representing the Center’s 2025 - 2026 academic year theme, “Networks.” 

 

Networks – social bonds, kinship structures, blood vessels, digital platforms, data, cultural systems, neural pathways, transportation links – hold us together and connect our world. Networks do not stay still. They move. Driving structures, relationships, and systems, networks are conduits of the collective.

 

This year we ask: What connections, relationships, and systems are transmitted through social ties, digital platforms, biological systems, and infrastructure? How do networks influence how people navigate illness and healing? How do digital networks transform the way we understand, access, and deliver healthcare? We are especially interested in the interdependence between narratives and data. How do personal stories and big data intersect? What role do language and communication patterns play in shaping our understanding of health, influencing interactions, and impact health knowledge and trust across diverse communities? How do social media networks and online communities influence health behaviors, spread information, and shape public health discourse?

 

The submission should address different aspects of this theme, such as community stories, traditions, and activities prominent to the history and culture of Washington, DC. The winning images and narrative will be used on the MHHJ website, reports, and various marketing materials. MHHJ will give image credit to the artist affiliate.