EXPOSURE: A Photographic Meditation on Masculinity, Stillness, & Being Seen

Exposure is a photo-led experience exploring men’s mental health, visibility, and identity through art, dialogue, and community in Baltimore

What does it mean for men in our communities to truly feel seen?

Exposure, developed in partnership with the Baltimore Museum of Art at Lexington Market and lens-based social practice artist Daniel Adegbesan, poses this important question through a group installation centering collective presence, dialogue, and photographic creative expression as vehicles for destigmatizing conversations around men’s mental health and increasing awareness of accessible care resources in Baltimore City. 

Featured artists include:

• Adetola Abdulkadir
• Allen-Golder Carpenter
• James 'JJ' McQueen
• Myles Michelin
• Jason Mukendi
• Joseph Mukendi
• Marz Jones
• Randy Opong
• Colby Ware

Men’s mental health represents one of the most underrecognized and undertreated public health challenges of our time. Globally, men account for nearly 80% of suicides and die by suicide nearly four times more often than women (CDC, 2023). Men are less likely to seek therapy or discuss emotional distress, yet more likely to engage in substance misuse and risky behaviors as coping mechanisms. These trends have devastating effects on individuals and ripple outward to families and communities.

In response to this, WMAS has been hosting mindfully facilitated events and activations throughout Baltimore City since Fall 2025. Our efforts have reached over 1000 individuals through a combination of in-person and online campaigning for destigmatization around conversations regarding men's mental health.

Central to this exhibition is a commitment to the full breadth of who men are. WMAS holds an expansive and inclusive understanding of manhood that embraces queer men, trans men, and men of every cultural lived experience. Masculinity is not a monolith; it is a vast and varied landscape of identity, and the wellness of all who inhabit it deserves to be honored.

Photography is uniquely suited to carry this vision through its ability to isolate a singular moment in time, then ask an audience to meditate on the layered context within the world around a single image. For men whose experiences have been historically rendered invisible or reduced to stereotype, to be photographed with intention and care is itself a radical act of witness. A camera's capacity to say "this moment matters" makes photography not merely an aesthetic choice for this exhibition, but a deeply purposeful one.