Prevention: The Unknown Face of Suicide


  • Photographer
    Ozren Šiftar
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    None
  • Date of Photograph
    2015
  • Technical Info
    Digital Photography

The project aims to raise awareness of suicides and suicide attempts in our immediate surroundings. Done with help from the country's leading experts on the subject, it takes an unconventional and more direct approach, in attempt to make people more personally involved in preventing this worldwide epidemic.

Story

Eight hundred thousand. This is the number of people who committed suicide each individual year of this decade. Prevention is difficult, in part, because the public is very misinformed about the problem. In Western society, we are exposed to stereotypes through media. The best example would be the staged image of a teenager sitting by himself in the corner of the room, so often used within reports on suicide. With the rise of the social media, we are also becoming more and more exposed to the labelling of victims. They are considered weak minds who simply did not have the strength needed for this world.
This is not the truth. It affects everyone – people of both genders, all ages, social and relationship statuses, no matter what their upbringing was and how ordered or chaotic their lives look to the outside viewer. The only thing in common every suicide truly has is that someone dies. This is the one thing which should be kept in mind and the reason why our basic mentality needs to be ‘’I should help’’. ‘’Prevention: The Unknown Face of Suicide’’ aims to strengthen that mentality. These images represent some of the most common methods of suicide worldwide in their everyday, mundane form. From drowning to pesticide ingestion, which is almost unknown to the West, yet it is the most commonly used method, being responsible for at least 30% of all suicides each year. We pass by these objects so often in our daily lives. Think about how a person must feel to see them as an exit. Would you help them if you could?

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