A Vaccine Injury Story with music photographer Michelle Grace Hunder

There’s unfortunately a level of concern that comes from having a conversation about vaccine injury in the current climate. On the one hand, one worries that a group would use such a case to spread radical claims and conspiracy theories to fully discredit vaccines in the service of sensationalized narratives. On the other, there is always those perfectly willing to dismiss and gaslight someone’s personal experience as something that’s just made up or exaggerated. Something that often happens with those dealing with the consequences of long COVID as well.

But we must be able to have these conversations openly and with nuance, or else we’d never be able to confront the reality of things.

And the reality is that with any medical intervention there is always a risk—something that has always been the case with any vaccine/treatment. Why should pharma’s answer to COVID—the mRNA technology—be any different? In fact, in this case, it has had much less time to be tested, studied, and examined. The question is, what’s the extent of this impact?

There are more qualified people to answer that particular question than me, so I’ll leave it to them.

My discourse on this episode of the Forbidden Conversations podcast focuses on just one case and the personal experience of one person. That someone happens to be one of Australia’s most revered music photographers, Michelle Grace Hunder. She's photographed the likes of Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Shawn Mendes, Drake, Lauryn Hill, Mark Ronson, Kendrick Lamar, and Ruel.

What makes her case particularly noteworthy is that it’s more than a mere claim based on conjecture—it is documented and her unfortunate injury has been officially diagnosed as caused by the vaccine.

In our far-ranging conversation, we discuss Australia’s strict lockdown laws, the mandates, her dealings with the medical system, her injury, how her experiences ultimately profoundly changed her views, and whether she’d be able to trust institutions again.

As photographer Michelle has two separate portrait series in the National Sound and Film Archive of Australia, has published “RISE,” a photographic book detailing her personal journey into the world of Australian Hip-Hop after shooting with literally every major player in the Australian Hip-Hip scene. She also spent four years on a major personal project called "Her Sound, Her Story" celebrating Women in Australian Music, across all genres, with her project partner, Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore.

Her unique style captures the raw energy and emotion of live performances, and her photographs have been featured in numerous publications and exhibitions.

Find her on her official website, Instagram and Twitter.