Visualizing Health Disparities in the U.S.

Why does the United States spend more than any other wealthy nation and have so little to show for it? What can we change, what can we build, what should we tear down, to assure that all of us—no matter who we are, where we are from, or how much money we make—have affordable health care? Most of the time, these questions are answered with data or policy analysis—but we know there is so much more to the story. After all, the experience of health, of being a person with a body that will inevitably get sick, hurt, or need care, is the most fundamental and shared of human experiences.
Presented by the Magnum Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, and Photoville, this conversation will feature four photographers whose work highlights the lived experience of health disparities in the United States.

Friday, May 15, 2026 | 12:00 - 2:00 PM

Magnum Foundation

59 East 4th St, 7W | New York, NY 10003

In Southern California, Pablo Unzueta documents the work of living and breathing on Asthma Boulevard, the pollution corridor along the Los Angeles-Long Beach port communities. Working with collages, Sydney Ellison explores gendered and racialized barriers to accessing treatment for pain based on first-hand accounts from patients and clinicians. In Missouri, Brooklynn Kascel documents a growing health equity crisis as trans and nonbinary people are being denied gender-affirming, and life-saving, healthcare after the passage of SB49 nearly three years ago. And from Starr County, Texas, near the state’s southern tip along the U.S.-Mexico border, Cheney Orr highlights the ways dementia looms over families, where many with the condition are cared for at home.
These projects were produced with support from the Magnum Foundation and Commonwealth Fund’s Health Equity reporting partnership, which supported eight projects — several of which were published in The Atlantic and Mother Jones.
Starting May 16, projects from this initiative by Cheney Orr and Pablo Unzueta will be on view in Brooklyn Bridge Park as part of this year's Photoville festival. See more here.

About the photographers

Sydney Ellison is a Queens-based artist and curator. Her studio and curatorial practices share many of the same concerns, primarily addressing gaps and intersections within American identity. She received her BFA in Photography from Pratt Institute. Sydney is currently the Programs Manager at Baxter St and has previously worked with The Photographer’s Green Book.

Brooklynn T. Kascel is a queer photographer from Iowa who makes non-fiction photographic essays. Working within the sociological framework of human ecology, Brooklynn interacts with themes of gender, queerness, Christianity, the family unit and current events to study social systems.

Cheney Orr is a photographer and journalist whose coverage spans breaking news and long-term documentary projects. His first photo essay, published by The New York Times in 2018, documented his father’s experience with early-onset Alzheimer’s and helped define the approach to storytelling that continues to shape his practice. He has since been commissioned to work across the United States, covering natural disasters, the aftermath of mass violence, flashpoints along the U.S.–Mexico border, civil unrest, and political campaigns for outlets including Reuters, Bloomberg, and The New York Times. His photography has received numerous grants and awards, including a Magnum Foundation grant and a 2021 Pulitzer Prize nomination, and is held in the collections of major institutions, including MoMA and the Met.

Pablo Unzueta is a first-generation Chilean American documentary photographer born in Los Angeles, California. Through photography, he documents stories about environmental pollution, climate change, systemic displacement, migration, and the socioeconomic implications of globalization. Unzueta’s work has been funded by the Magnum Foundation and collected by the US Library of Congress. Unzueta is currently based in San Francisco where he has been focused on hyper-local stories that reflect a broader and national lens.

About the moderator

Jehan Jillani is the Visuals Director at The Atlantic, where she oversees photography and art direction for the publication's daily stories and digital features. Her website can be found here.

About the presenters
Magnum Foundation is a nonprofit organization that expands creativity and diversity in documentary photography, activating new audiences and ideas through the innovative use of images.
The Commonwealth Fund is a private nonprofit foundation established in 1918 with the broad charge to enhance the common good. Its founder, Anna M. Harkness, is among the first women to start a private foundation. Today, the Commonwealth Fund supports independent research on health care issues and makes grants to improve health care practice and policy. An international program in health policy is designed to stimulate innovative policies and practices in the United States and other industrialized countries.
Photoville is a New York-based non-profit organization that works to promote a wider understanding and increased access to the art of photography for all. The Photoville Festival provides an accessible space for photographers and audiences from every walk of life to engage with each other, and experience thought-provoking photography from across the globe — free and accessible for all!

Magnum Foundation is in an elevator building and has a restroom that is wheelchair accessible and gender-neutral. For access requests or questions, please contact [email protected].

Magnum Foundation events are made possible by the Henry Nias Foundation and .

Photos by Pablo Unzueta, Sydney Ellison, Cheney Orr, and Brooklynn Kascel

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Magnum Foundation