Jonathan Hooper
Shoulder of a Champion

AwardRed Ribbon

SchoolWestlake High School

CityWestlake, Ohio

TeacherChristine Filmer

InternMohamed Ridha

MediumDigital Photo Collage

Artist's Statement

In examining forms of entertainment throughout the years, professional athletics have undergone a surprisingly few amount of changes in nearly two thousand years. Sports figures circa 70 AD were highly praised as they are today. They also likely obtained many of the same injuries from which modern athletes often suffer. The contrast is in the treatment of such injuries. Roman gladiators could not have imagined an MRI scan or any other modern treatments of the 21st Century. I took the photos used in this piece while traveling in Rome and Pompeii, during which I realized how the value of human life has increased over the past centuries through the many notable strides made in the medical field.