(UN)PRIVILEGED AwardCeremony - Capturing the gap of social inequalities

Being aware of social inequalities and their pervasive effect on well-being and societal functioning is pivotal to the development of a solution.
However, social inequalities and disadvantages are often hidden from our eye or difficult to pinpoint if we have not experienced them first-hand. Similarly, their long-term negative effects on both single individuals and society as a whole, are not immediately and easily perceived without the support of rigorous research.

(UN)PRIVILEGED, a project born from the collaboration between Women in Research Ireland (WIRI – charity No: 20200957) and the Equality Fund in Trinity College Dublin, aimed to raise awareness of the multifaceted nature of social inequalities and their consequences.
To achieve this, (UN)PRIVILEGED tackled this issue combining the points of view of arts and science. In the past months, WIRI ran a photo contest asking contestants to capture through their lens the gap between privilege and disadvantage.
The contest was an international success, with 59 entries from 10 different Countries worldwide including Bangladesh, India, Moldova, United Arab Emirates, and Brazil.
The entries were evaluated by a panel composed of professional photographer Mark Nixon, WIRI committee member Cathy Corcoran, and Trinity researcher Anna Truzzi.
The winning and shortlisted photographs were printed and showcased during th efree in-person award ceremony which took place on Thursday June 30th in Trinity College Dublin.

During the award ceremony, Prof. Yekaterina Chzhen, assistant professor in Sociology at Trinity College Dublin and world-renowned expert on poverty and inequality across the life course, presented her research results about the long-term effects of social inequalities on individuals and society. This was followed by the announcement of the winner of our photographic contest selected by our panel of judges.

The winning picture, shot by Syed Mahabubul Kader in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and titled “Fire Incident” portrays people surrounding the remains of a car previously engulfed in flames from a fire attributed to illegal storage of chemicals in unregulated warehouses, highlighting how living in a healthy place is a privilege not shared by all human beings.
The other shortlisted photographs portrayed different perspectives of social inequalities. “Life in a Rice Mill”, shot by Asker Ibne Firoz in Bangladesh, highlights how gender gap has roots in childhood by showing a girl working while a boy from the same family plays riding a bicycle. “Limitations”, shot by Srimanta Ray in India, highlights how having special education needs can be a sharp disadvantage for the individuals if those needs are not recognized or met. “Bed and table”, shot by Rose Battistella in Brazil, shows some indirect economic consequences of Covid-19 which contributed to deepen the gap between opposite ends of the socio-economic status.
By showcasing the photos and reporting scientific results about long-term consequences of disadvantage in our society, (UN)PRIVILEGED aimed to give its audience a moment to reflect, promoting awareness and maybe prompting people to strive to reduce social inequality in their everyday life by taking actions, even small ones.

We are grateful to all the photographer who participated in the contest and to Trinity College Equality Office for sponsoring both the photo contest and the award ceremony, allowing us to develop such an innovative and impactful project.

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