Portraits of Resilience
Finding resilience and meaning in the face of anxiety and depression
About the Project
At once a photo essay and a compendium of life stories, Portraits of Resilience brings us face to face with twenty-two extraordinary individuals, celebrating the wisdom they have gained on the frontline of a contemporary battle.
With astonishing honesty and openness, they describe their experiences of depression and anxiety; how they endured their darkest moments and ultimately found purpose and meaning in their struggles.
These wise people give us not only solace and reassurance as we face our own challenges, but also the inspiration that even apparently insurmountable challenges can be faced and sometimes overcome—and that happiness, while elusive, can eventually be found.
Portraits of Resilience
by Daniel Jackson
forward by David A. Karp
MIT Press, 2017
More at the project website: portraitsofresilience.com
Public Events
Daniel Jackson presents Portraits of Resilience
March 1, 2018 / 7pm
Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge
authors@MIT: Daniel Jackson, Portraits of Resilience
March 8, 2018 / 6pm
The MIT Press Bookstore
Portraits of Resilience: Installation for Mental Health Month
May 2018
Newton Free Library
Daniel Jackson: “Reaching Out: Support Around Suicide and Depression”
October 4, 2018
WomenExplore Lecture and Discussion Forum
Democracy Center, 45 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge
About the Artist
Daniel Jackson has studied with Arno Minkkinen (2010), Keith Carter (2013), Cig Harvey (2014), Joyce Tenneson (2015), Connie Imboden (2016) and Brenton Hamilton (2017). He was commissioned in 2011 to create a series of images of contemporary laboratories to accompany an exhibition of work by Berenice Abbott, which were shown in the MIT Museum from May to December 2012 and subsequently acquired by the museum. Earlier portfolios include a study of Frank Gehry’s Stata Center published by Lenswork in 2007; images of Boston’s Metropolitan Waterworks, published by the Waterworks in 2011; and an essay on a garden designed by Warren Manning, a leading landscape architect in the early 19th century who had worked in Frederick Law Olmsted’s studio. His self-published book of images of this garden was selected by Darius Himes for inclusion in the Indie Photobook Library now acquired by Yale University. Jackson was the winner of the Zeiss Precision Image contest in 2013, and received an honorable mention in the International Photography Awards in 2014. His images have also been shown in several galleries and shows, and acquired by the Griffin Museum of Photography and the MIT Museum.
More at the artist’s website: Daniel Jackson
Jackson is a Professor of Computer Science at MIT.
In the Media
WBUR The ARTery: In ‘Portraits Of Resilience,’ MIT Students Share Personal Stories Of Depression
The Boston Globe: At MIT, ‘Portraits of Resilience’ in the face of depression
PBS NewsHour: ‘Portraits of Resilience’ destigmatize depression at MIT (video) and How students who struggle with mental illness can find help (video)
WGBH TV: Students’ Mental Health Struggles And Triumphs Showcased In ‘Portraits Of Resilience’ (video)
NewTV: Books and Beyond: Mental Health (video)