大象传媒

BoWen Yang, from the University of Westminster, won a pitch to create a photography series for the 大象传媒鈥檚 50:50 The Equality Project. This portraits went out on 大象传媒 social platforms in the summer of 2021. BoWen was tasked with researching and finding three subjects for a portrait series, which would highlight the diversity of voices in their industries.

BoWen Yang

"Even in my wildest dreams, I never thought I will go through a pandemic. But when the pandemic started, there was a lot of tension and depression all over the country. While still a student, I wanted to use this opportunity to understand and share what professionals faced in their respective industry; to hone in that tension and hardship, to hone in the emotion of working in different diverse environments," explains BoWen Yang, who is a student at the University of Westminster.

Split Under the Blue Stem

BoWen's gives her meaning behind the portrait: Stem:core of the NHS. When there is a cut in the stem it produces inconsistent leaves and flowers (in this case its departments and staffs). I want to use this analogy to represent the inconsistency of women and ethnic minority staff in different NHS departments. 

Dr David Lau, NHS Doctor

While Dr David Lau 鈥� and his colleagues 鈥� face many daily challenges to overcome he feels there are further deep-seated areas that need addressing 鈥� including gender and ethnicity in the NHS.

As a surgeon, he鈥檚 noticed there is a clear lack of women in his specialism. He saw many women completing their core surgical training but only a few continued through specialist training to be a surgeon. He questions why.

Lau says when he transferred to the current hospital there鈥檚 a lot of East and South-East Asian background-based staff, which made him feel really welcomed. It not been the case everywhere.

He doesn鈥檛 know why there are these differences across the NHS, but he feels they are 鈥渧ery visible鈥�.

Blooming Under a Cold Sun

BoWen's gives her meaning behind the portrait: Warm sunlight is important to all of our survival. For Vijaya, the sun represents the IT industry. She believes working in this industry leads to better pay, better life, inevitably to have a better future for her family. However, it was not easy, as an immigrant without a strong grip on the English language, she struggled to survive. This is why I have decided to label it "Blooming Under a Cold Sun".

Vijaya Lakshmi, IT Professional

Due to her Indian descent, Vijaya Lakshmi feels that she鈥檚 struggled initially in the IT industry in the UK. She is successful now and sitting comfortably in the hierarchy, but she started at the bottom of the food chain.

She explained how she feels that for any immigrant, in any country, needs to work hard to survive, and 鈥� as she does - constantly evolve to survive. Lakshmi tells how her perceived 鈥渟tubbornness鈥� through her language had led to discrimination as has her heavy Indian accent.

Lakshmi says that it can be 鈥渄egrading鈥� to hear someone comment about her colour and accent. However, she is happy with who she is and wears them as a proud badge on her chest.

Erosion/Implosion

BoWen's gives her meaning behind the portrait: Erosion: refers to the number of doctors who were native white British citizens slowly eroding away since Vivian joined the NHS and being taken over by diverse individuals. Implosion: Vivian feels there are barrier to the number of international doctors joining the NHS. Thus creating a situation where the NHS could go through a diversity deficit Implosion.

Vivian Fung, NHS Professional

鈥淚 thought because I am in a predominantly white country, there will be more white doctors throughout NHS鈥�, explains Vivian Fung. She says that actually what she鈥檚 witnessed is that it鈥檚 really only the older and experienced doctors tend to be more native white British.

Fung is happy that NHS accepts international nurses and doctors but says there are a lot of hurdles. She believes if there are less hurdles, we can have more diverse doctors and NHS will be more welcoming to everyone.