One Too Many Men

2024-2025

One Too Many Men

This series addresses the persistent crisis of male suicide. Through staged self-performative imagery and symbolic visual environments, the work reflects on the emotional isolation and psychological pressures that can accompany socially prescribed models of masculinity.

The images explore the dissonance between cultural expectations of strength and stoicism and the more fragile realities of lived experience. By situating the male figure within psychologically ambiguous spaces, the photographs evoke the quiet tension between appearance and inner reality.

Rather than presenting a documentary account, the series uses metaphor and visual symbolism to reflect on the silent weight carried by many men and the cultural narratives that shape how vulnerability is expressed—or concealed.

References

  • Seppuku — a ritualised act historically associated with honour, atonement, and the avoidance of shame.

  • The Thinker by Auguste Rodin — often read as a symbol of contemplation, introspection, and the weight of thought.

  • The Death of Chatterton by Henry Wallis — a work that has come to embody the idea of artistic sensitivity, struggle, and the romanticisation of early death.

  • Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith — a reflection on how distress can be overlooked or misunderstood, mistaken for ease or play.

  • Existential nihilism — a philosophical position associated with the absence of inherent meaning, often linked to detachment or indifference.

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Heresy

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The Emperor's Chambers