Research seminar: Ethics and Consent in Medical Photography

Part of the Ethics of Medical Photography: Past, Present and Future research project.

Most discussions on the ethics of historical medical photography usually mention that the patients "did not consent to have their photograph taken". However, the history of the concept and the practice of consent shows that the former statement results in more questions than answers. In this seminar, Dr Arya Thampuran (Durham University), Dr Duncan Wilson (University of Manchester) and Dr Chimwemwe Phiri (University of Manchester) will share short "provocations" on the theme of consent.

The aim of the seminar will be to encourage discussion, so we will have plenty of time for questions.

How to attend

Please complete this form to register your attendance at this seminar. We will use your email address to send you the seminar's link the day of the seminar.

Find out more

This seminar is part of the Ethics of Medical Photography: Past, Present and Future research project. This multidisciplinary network brings together historians, ethicists, archivists, heritage scholars, artists, photographers, social scientists, and the public, with the Wellcome Collection as project partner, to generate theoretical and practical resources to research, curate, and disseminate historical medical photographs in an ethical way. To balance the ethical needs of heritage institutions, researchers and the public, this network will move beyond the looking/ not looking dilemma [Moeller, 2009] to ask:

• how does our understanding of the ethics of medical photography, and of medical photography itself, change when we focus on race, disability, gender, class and age rather than consent, privacy and anonymity?
• how can we widen access to early medical photographs while respecting the dignity of both historical subjects and present viewers?

The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and run by De Montfort University and the University of Leeds in collaboration with Wellcome Collection. Find out more on the project webpage.

Image credit

William E. Gray, A hand held over a dark mark on a forearm, to demonstrate the manual treatment of ulcers. Photograph. Wellcome Collection. Source: Wellcome Collection. Licence: Public Domain Mark.