“Conquering SCD” a photography series featuring Black and white portraits of 10 African Americans living with sickle cell disease.
“I’m hoping that my art can bring exposure through those 10 pieces of work,” Osorio wrote in a statement on her website. The 10 subjects that appeared in her “Conquering SCD” photography series also were featured in her Rhoda Graham Sickle Cell Project, an endeavor dedicated solely to her late sister. With these projects, Osorio believes she can increase funding for more research and community outreach programs.
However, her 2020 photograph series didn’t come to fruition until an entire decade later after her sister Rhonda’s death in 2008. Even so, Osorio always kept the memory of her sister alive in her heart.
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She recalled fond memories of them playing dress up, laughing and taking photos together. “It weighs heavy on my heart that my sister can not share my joys,” she wrote in a statement on her website.
With her “Conquering SCD” photograph series, Osorio hoped that through photos and video clips, more people would learn of the challenges that Black patients with sickle cell disease face like her sister. While bringing exposure and awareness to the issue, Osorio also highlighted her subject’s beauty and personal stories of courage.
Still to this day, Osorio continues to work on the Rhoda Graham Sickle Cell Project in her Daydream Land Photography in Greenville, SC. One day, she hopes that there’ll be better treatment options for the Black community, to prevent others from suffering like her sister did.