ROCHESTER — On Tuesday evening, dozens of people gathered at St. Mary’s University Rochester for the opening of a new, collaborative photography collection. Each photograph, displayed on a white mounting board on the wall, included a narrative description of the image in English, Spanish and Somali. Many of the photographers were there, talking about their work.

What makes this photo gallery different is that it is a health research project, too.

The exhibition is a project of the Rochester Healthy Community Partnership, an effort from Mayo Clinic, Olmsted County Public Health Services, Hennepin Healthcare and other organizations to promote health and participation in health research within Minnesota’s immigrant communities, particularly the Somali and Hispanic/Latino communities, said Abby Lohr, a health equity researcher in Mayo Clinic’s Division of Epidemiology.

Photovoice is a

method

used in community-based research and in advocacy to share a group’s lived experience with others in order to promote change or awareness. Here, that lived experience centered around health.

“The exhibit ultimately seeks to promote inclusivity for all residents, inspiring viewers to contribute to a community that upholds the dignity of every individual,” Lohr said.

This project built off of RHCP’s Healthy Immigrant Community intervention, Lohr said, in which leaders in Southeast Minnesota’s immigrant communities recruited others from their families, churches, mosques and friend groups to become health promoters.

“Folks like Luz (Molina) taught the immigrant leaders cardiovascular disease education, so physical activity and healthy eating lessons, and then they disseminated that to their social network,” Lohr said. “We chose to do a photovoice exhibit to look at, or to better understand, their priorities.”

One of the people Molina, a Mayo Clinic clinical research coordinator, recruited was Rosario “Chayo” Guerrero Tobar, who has lived in Dodge County for nearly three decades. Her photovoice images feature some of her nine grandchildren.

“I want to motivate children for them to grow up being healthy,” Guerrero Tobar said, “and to have more nutrition or healthy programs here in Dodge County.”

Guerrero Tobar said her purpose behind her images is to call local authorities’ attention to immigrants’ health needs.

“We have some needs that need to be corrected,” she said, “in education, health, physical activity and focusing on children.”

Mohamud Nur also featured children in one of his photographs — a boy’s basketball game as viewed from the stands. A referee is about to pass the ball to a player at the free-throw line.

“One of my (children) was playing a basketball game, and the youth in our community need to be part of that,” Nur said. “I take those pictures so that I can express the need for youth to be part of these sports.”

Some photographers reflected different health priorities in their work. A self-portrait of a man walking in his neighborhood. Red and green peppers from a home garden. A veiled Muslim woman exercising on a treadmill. An altar de muerto adorned with flowers and vegetables. In a workplace break room, a snack area where most of the food available for purchase is candy.

In one of Imelda Soto Escobar’s photographs, she captured a large, empty parking lot north of the Olmsted Medical Center Southeast Clinic. She framed the image through a chain link fence.

“In this one, what I wanted to capture was the health system,” Soto Escobar said. “People that come here, recently arrived here, it’s very difficult to get access to health (care).”

Soto Escobar also took a photo of a residential neighborhood, which she said represents getting into housing after immigrating to the U.S.

“I wanted to be able to express myself, showing other people what we can change or what we can improve,” Soto Escobar said.

The research aspect of this project, Lohr said, will come through the post-project interviews that each photographer did with RHCP.

“I did a series of five questions around like, ‘Why did you take this photo? What were you hoping to show? What does it mean to you? How does it make you feel?'” Lohr said. “We audio recorded that, and that’s the data. I’m working on analyzing that and pulling out themes.”

For Nur, he said the goal of the project is to be able to share what his community needs.

“If you get a chance to have a discussion to express the area that we’re looking to get more help, to collaborate, (for) the needs of our youth … when it comes to the area of activity, well-being and gaining knowledge in the community.”

The process also made Guerrero Tobar more comfortable with using her cell phone.

“I have (gotten) motivated to take more pictures and do all of the activities like video calls,” she said.

The photovoice exhibition is up at St. Mary’s University Rochester through March 12, Lohr said, and the photos will be back on display in Rochester’s downtown skyways in late April.