The Belfast Health Inequalities Gallery: Graphic Medicine & Health Inequalities- Drawing Inequality

This exhibition presents a series of works developed through a graphic medicine approach, exploring the lived realities and systemic causes of health inequalities in Belfast. Created by illustrator Conor McClure in collaboration with the Digital Healthcare Technology Accelerator, the project seeks to communicate complex health challenges to scientists, engineers, researchers, and leaders who are shaping future healthcare systems. 

In partnership with Belfast City Council, the place-based project focuses on areas of high deprivation, where inequalities in access, experience, and outcomes lead to lower life expectancy. Drawing on engagement with community-facing organisations, the artworks reflect a range of interconnected issues, including mental health, addiction, access to care, women’s health, imprisonment, and the role of emerging technologies.

Rather than presenting these themes in isolation, the exhibition highlights how health is shaped by wider social, economic, and structural conditions. It examines the tension between survival and wellbeing, the gaps between seeking help and receiving it, and the often unseen systems that influence patient journeys. Alongside this, it considers the growing role of emerging digital and technology innovation, including artificial intelligence, as both a response to and opportunity to create impact within these challenges.

Contributors from across research, policy, and healthcare have been invited to respond to the work with short reflections on how health inequalities may shape their future practice. These responses accompany the artwork, creating a space where multiple perspectives meet- linking lived experience, creative interpretation, and professional responsibility.

At its core, the exhibition asks a simple but urgent question:
How can we better see, understand, and respond to health inequalities in ways that lead to meaningful change?