Controlled Trauma photography exhibit takes you inside the operating room

The role of photography in the digital era has transformed medical photography and profoundly influenced medical education. Surgical Photography, a course offered by RIT’s photographic sciences program, aims to engage students in this transformation by placing them directly in the field.

Gallery r’s “Controlled Trauma” exhibition features photographs from the operating rooms at Rochester General Hospital (RGH) that were taken by students enrolled in the Surgical Photography course over its existence.

The exhibit is scheduled to run from March 2-25 at Gallery r, 100 College Ave., Rochester, with an opening reception slated for 6-9 p.m. Friday, March 2.

A partnership between RIT and RGH has provided unique access to the hospital’s facilities, surgical patients and related medical procedures. Since the fall of 2009, RIT students enrolled in the class have been exposed to the issues and methods used in contemporary surgical photography.

During the 11 times the course has run, 112 students have seen fundamental photographic equipment and procedures used in operating rooms. In addition, students are trained to properly manage their files in accordance with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations.

At the end of each course, students may have visited the surgical theater multiple times with the objective of making photographs while having relevant discussion through lecture and critique to evaluate if they produced images useful to the medical field.

For this highly unusual exhibition, tens of thousands of files were edited from almost 87,000 images that cover over 11 different course sessions. The show highlights a selection of those images and the unique opportunity the course has opened for RIT students.

A display of operating room ephemera will also be exhibited on loan from InterVol, a non-profit organization that recovers and redistributes medical supplies to countries in need. InterVol also creates volunteer opportunities for medical professionals and health educators, expanding their humanitarian efforts and global engagement.