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Although mental illness is increasingly prevalent in American society, little conversation about mental health takes place among black men. This is a result of the stigma surrounding the topic in their communities. According to studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Mental Health Association “…African Americans view mental illness as highly stigmatizing,” and this prevents them from seeking treatment for such illness (Ward et al 3). This is particularly problematic since black men in America have been and continue to be exposed to many traumatic events that negatively affect their mental health. Crucially, this situation is further complicated by the fact that mental health resources tailored to black men are scarce.

The stigma attached to mental health and mental illness in black communities affects black men especially.

Res
earch.

When we feel physically ill, we go to the doctor or take medication. This same practice should apply when we feel depressed or have anxiety attacks – we should seek proper help from a therapist or counselor.

The research explores the stigma surrounding mental health and mental illness by identifying the role factors like society, religion, and the media contribute to this mental ill-health among black men. To this end, since it is this stigma that discourages black men from receiving the support required to ensure psychological wellbeing. And thus the research informs the proposed creative solution of a traveling gallery featuring my conceptual photographic series titled Unravelling. The series visualizes the mental health stressors specific to this group in order to promote empathy and destigmatize such struggles. In doing so, it is hoped that the project will encourage productive conversations around mental health struggles experienced by black men and encourage such individuals to access mental health resources where they exist.  

sol
ution.

Traveling photo gallery

"Unravelling"is a pictorial series illustrating some of the key mental health stressors specific to the experience of black men in contemporary American society. The research conducted has demonstrated how necessary mental health awareness and support is for members of the black community, specifically black men. This is the key concept addressed and represented in the project. In visualizing and representing the stressors revealed through the research, the series aims to raise awareness of the difficulties in coping with and seeking treatment for mental illness that black men in America face. Sources of stress highlighted in the research and thus important to represent in the series include family, community, religion, healthcare, and the media, specifically, news, social media, and film.

Each one of the frames aims to show the viewers the vulnerability of being in the comfort of ones home and still being tormented by mental stressors that have been visually represented as a pastor, friends and even a news crew etc.

This makes the unseen issue of mental health for black men recognizable.

5 O'Clock News

This image depicts a TV news crew on location reporting a breaking news story. The news crew holding the rope that holding the main character represent the racial bias and stereotypes like being violent or criminals (Whaley 77, Bjornstrom et al 4) that news outlets are complicit in perpetuating, which adversely affects the mental health of black men. "Some of those real-world consequences promote racism and discrimination in the minds of other groups of people but can also create problemed behavior issues and low self-esteem in the minds of black men and boys that watch the news”(McCreary& Wright, 27)
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SILENCE ON SET

The film industry has a considerable influence on the beliefs and attitudes of modern society. Just like the news, the film industry plays an important role in the uplifting of stereotypical and limiting portrayal of black men (Barnett & Flynn 29). Thus these negative images can have many damaging effects to the mental wellbeing of black men like self fulfilling prophecies (Hilton & Hippel 244).

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REVIVAL

The church plays a pivotal role in the black community. “79% of blackAmericans identify as Christian, and an additional 3% identify with other non-christian faiths” (Nguyen 2). As such pastors hold  a particular influence in this community as their role often means the congregation turns to them for guidance and so often accept their views uncritically (Dempsey et al 77). This is can be problematic for young black men and their mental health if church leaders espouse negative views towards mental illness or even promote prayer in place of professional help (Nguyen 7).
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THE GANG

Friends can be a beneficial source of psychological support for an individual, especially those suffering from mental ill-health, but they can also hinder progress or contribute to the problems themselves by ignoring the signs or just propagating the stigma (Motley and Banks 4,  George 5).
And as such i try to depict how some of the closest people to the black man can ignore the signs of mental ill health by not taking it serious because of the view that mental illness is a sign of personal weakness (Ward et al. 9).
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WHY CAN'T YOU BE LIKE

African Americans often turn to friends and family over therapy for care (U.S Department of health and Human Services, 28). The family is one of the core influences in the life of an individual within a community. In this image i use his wife as the stressor to represent the family as a whole. The image depicts an unhealthy family situation showing that when such support is not forthcoming or a family is dysfunctional, this can in fact add to these stresses and promote rather than prevent mental illness (Littlejohn-Blake etal 462, George 5).
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HEY DOC?

The relationship between the black community and the healthcare system historically has been particularly problematic which is attributed to multiple examples of misconduct and medical malpractice affecting people of African descent. (Tuskegee Study -Timeline - CDC - NCHHSTP, Washington 8, Metzl 14). Also within today’s society, racist stereotypes affect the quality of treatment that black men can receive. (Pager & Shepherd, pg. 13). This clearly has an impact on the mental health of black men since these factors are likely to discourage them from accessing the professional treatment. This scene, then, aims to illustrate this problematic relationship between the healthcare sector and black men.
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REFLECTION

In the final shot of the series, I sought to highlight how negative ideas of black male identity propagated by mass media are internalized by this group and subsequently impact their self-esteem and eve lead to self fulfilling prophecies (McCreary & Wright 27, Barnett & Flynn 31). Specifically, I aimed to symbolize the inner struggle that these cultural representations can bring about in black men about their identity. “Men’s sense of identity is influenced by evaluation of how well they are accomplishing social roles that are important to them” (Watkins et al. 304).
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