Wild, Wonderful & Brave

Now open in the Shenandoah Valley Gallery, this digital exhibition tells the story of the medical community in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wild, Wonderful & Brave was inspired by the Healthcare is Human podcast—a forum where healthcare workers tell their stories—created by Dr. Ryan McCarthy, medical student Shruthi Sreekumar (now a doctor at the University of Cincinnati), and audio engineer Kym Mattioli. In addition to recording interviews with people working in, and in support of the healthcare system, McCarthy collaborated with photographer Molly Humphreys to take pictures of these individuals during their workdays.

Since the first podcast went live in September 2020, McCarthy, Humphreys, and Mattioli have produced 18 additional Healthcare is Human episodes and many of the project’s photographs and interviews have been featured on social media and through 100 Days in Appalachia, an independent non-profit newsroom of Appalachia Free Press.

Wild, Wonderful & Brave takes you “through the doors and behind the masks” where nurses, doctors, maintenance workers, security personnel, emergency transport technicians, hospital administrators, local officials, and others work in a wide variety of roles fighting against the pandemic. Their experiences are an inspirational and thought-provoking record of life on the COVID-19 front lines.

On view through June 25, 2023, Wild, Wonderful & Brave is organized and created by the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley and Corwyn Garman of Experience Art & Exhibitions in partnership with Dr. Ryan McCarthy and photographer Molly Humphreys. The MSV display of Wild, Wonderful & Brave is generously sponsored by West Virginia University and WVU Medicine.