Steven Puli, "Reaching out" (PEOPLE & PORTRAIT 2025)

This photograph represents the darkness of mental illness faced by so many of our young people. In this photograph the subject is obscuring his face to hide the pain in his eyes as a fights a personal battle. Through this image I am encouraging young people to reach out for support and for others to in turn reach out to young people to check if they are ok...sometimes all it needs is a simple "ruok?"

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.