By KATH GANNAWAY
UPPER Yarra Secondary College students have taken top honours at a photography competition aimed at raising awareness of hepatitis C.
The competition Street Shots was run in conjunction with a health education session about viral hepatitis for students at the school.
The photography students approached the challenging topic fearlessly producing thought-provoking images that told the story from a youth perspective.
The school had 10 entries in the competition of which eight were exhibited in the top 50 at the No Vacancy Gallery in Melbourne and which are now part of an exhibition at the school.
Nick Bickerton, Brent Van der Vlugt, Skye Johnston and Jack Horsley’s series Drugs, It’s Not Childs Play took out the Most Outstanding Group Award with prize money of $1000, while Grace Geileskey-Wilson was awarded second prize for Individual Entries for her work Questionable and the People’s Choice Award for How Would You Know, receiving $200 and a camera.
Nick said the group had brainstormed to produce a series of images which used colour to signify the infection from one unknowing person to another through sharing a needle. “We chose to colour the people using drugs rather than turn them into a black and white image to signify that there is still hope and treatment available,” he explained.
The underlying message, however, was that drugs are not child’s play and shouldn’t be treated as such.
Grace’s images reflected a number of issues including peer pressure and the reality of a diagnosis.
“Things like this don’t happen to people like me!” she wrote in her explanation of the works.
“Oh, but they do; too often” the doctor replies.
At the official opening of the exhibition at Upper Yarra Secondary College on Friday night Grace said she hoped the photos would provoke people to think about the consequences.
“I just hope that people realise how easy it is to get hepatitis from sharing needles and how it can affect your life, that it could change your life forever,” she said.
Hepatitis Victoria CEO Melanie Eagle said Street Shots was a great way to reach young people and keep them involved, given that most new infections of hepatitis C are in people aged 15 to 29.
Presenting the awards in Melbourne, media GP Dr Sally Feelgood said that the 150 entries from across the state showed that photography was a great way of raising awareness.
“This year there have been some amazing pieces of art submitted by some very talented kids,” she said.
