2,419 portraits to shine a light on men’s mental health

THE team behind Geelong’s Liminal Gallery has launched a new fundraising initiative aimed at raising $100,000 for men’s mental health and suicide prevention.

Motivated by his own lived experience of mental health and suicide ideation, gallery owner and director Corey Notaristefano is hoping to photograph 2,419 men and boys for an exhibition named “Alpha”, to shine a light on the 2,419 Australian men who took their own lives in 2023.

Each portrait will be about the size of a credit card and printed using a photographic process called cyanotype, which was once used to create blueprints.

The outcome will be a series of framed monochromatic, blue-coloured portraits, the sheer number of which Mr Notaristefano hopes will help to illustrate the scale of Australia’s suicide “epidemic”, while the choice of colour is intended to challenge society’s “blueprint of masculinity”.

“As much as it is about raising money, it’s also about the conversation and putting it into the forefront of people’s minds, and also challenging the notion of what it means to be a man,” he said.

“That’s why I’ve named it ‘Alpha’, to challenge those stereotypes of just getting on with it and having a stuff upper lip and not really talking.

“That’s the very thing that’s killing us, that lack of being able to be vulnerable with our mates and with the people that we care about because we’re trying to hold it all together, you’re trying to project strength and what is deemed acceptable masculinity.

“But really, the people that are embodying masculinity the best, are the people that are being vulnerable, they’re reaching out when they need help and they’re able to talk to their mates about what’s going on in their lives and help each other out.”

Still in the early stages of planning, Mr Notaristefano is looking to launch the exhibition in late 2026, alongside a “coffee table conversation starter” book comprising each portraits, as well as the stories of some of the men featured.

All participants will receive their portrait after the exhibition, which Mr Notaristefano hopes will act as a permanent talking point in their own homes.

For more information, or to participate in the fundraiser, head to liminalgalleryandlab.com/alpha