About
Currently, Joan Malina, through her camera lens, as an artist, photographer, and survivor has been working on an ongoing visual journey to bring light and awareness to a silent, deadly epidemic: mental illness. In an enlightened age, this insidious disease often remains hidden and unacknowledged due to stigma, shame, and hopelessness. Many people with symptoms of mental illness/brain disorders may neglect and deny their own needs and feelings. All too often, emotional emptiness and isolation conceal such disorders as depression, anxiety, abuse, struggle, loss of hope, mood issues, and more. “Silence like a cancer grows.” Despite the fact that many of these issues are treatable, those who suffer often live isolated in their own darkness. As a result, suicide has now become the second-leading cause of death among the young from 10 - 24 yrs. old. in Illinois and across the country. The internet has caused cyber-bullying to become a huge contributing risk factor for adolescents. Veterans and older adults are at high risk as well.
This project helps to show the strength of those who continue to give voice to those with suicide ideation that have made attempts to their life and to those who have been silenced too soon. These are courageous people, NOT cowards! It is to give VOICE and bring change in how others' view mental illness.