Preview: ALPHA Exhibition for CALM on International Men’s Day

‘ALPHA’ is an exhibition by five London-based photographers in aid of the charity CALM (The Campaign Against Living Miserably). CALM aims to prevent male suicide in the UK, and offers support to men who are living with depression or are in crisis. Suicide is the single biggest killer of men aged 20-45 in the UK, and CALM aims to keep men alive by talking.

This exclusive body of work has been produced by the artists to coincide with International Men’s Day and East London International Photography Festival (Photomonth) in an attempt to raise wider awareness of these issues. The exhibition intends to start a dialogue about a subject often too difficult to acknowledge in today’s culture. A culture that in 2013 saw 78% of suicides in the UK carried out by males. A culture where the expectation of the stereotypical ALPHA male is relentlessly reinforced.

ALPHA will be featuring exclusive work by Scarlet Page, Helena Berg, Jennifer Pattison, Peter Guenzel and Will Morgan. A mix of unknown and known faces including Gary Numan, Frank Turner and Professor Green are the subject of Scarlet Page’s portraits of men that have lived with depression or difficult life events. Captioned with imaginary words, some poignant, some comical, they highlight the emasculation men can feel when trying to express their emotions or talk about their experiences.

Imogen McGill

The exhibition runs from Friday 20th November until Friday 27th November at theprintspace Gallery 74 Kingsland Road E2 8DL. Admission is free.