Alinne Rezende

visual storyteller / photojournalist
  
T H E L A S T L E T T E R: what remains behind
Location: Brazil
Nationality: Brazilian
Biography: "Photography has always matched all my passions, all my choices, and all my curiosities. It has always been my best excuse: excuse to go, to be there, to tell, to listen, to come back, to get to know a bit more. It makes me think, look,... MORE
Private Story
T H E L A S T L E T T E R: what remains behind
Copyright Alinne Rezende 2024
Updated Aug 2022

T H E     L A S T     L E T T E R: what remains behind
(ongoing project)

Dear Sayuri, I'm writing to you for the last time, even with all the “what ifs”, to at least try to show beyond your suicide. And in the midst of a whirlwind of feelings and deafening silence, dealing with what is now a reality: you are gone.

Talking about suicide is still taboo, and yet, the poor amount of data available becomes hard to ignore. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 800,000 people take their own lives per year, 98% of them suffering from a diagnosable mental disorder.

Imagine that only during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, did the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increase by a massive 25%.
 
How can we ignore such numbers? They alone show us the urgency of talking about this subject. Numbers of which you, Sayuri, unfortunately, are now a part of. Numbers that are bigger than our pain, our tears, our sorrows.

“The last letter: what remains behind” is a photographic essay where an intimate narrative brings awareness to such a delicate matter, from the perspective of those who stayed. It is my last conversation with my dear old friend sharing the sad reality of this silent pain. Where its first goal is to produce relevant online content on the topic and a dummy photobook. Furthermore, together with a Brazilian NGO, contribute with social actions to promote awareness on the subject.

From experience, I know that many have never thought about all of this. But that doesn't make anyone immune, after all, there is also another side to suicide that remains, that survives in the people who continue to live and will have to learn to deal with all this emptiness.

So my dear friend Silvia, may our goodbyes be the beginning of a better manner to address such a major public health problem. In hopes that we all can understand the urge and the crucial need for mental care for both sides of this story.

* * *

“The last letter: what remains behind” starts in 2021 and is an ongoing documentary essay about suicide from the perspective of those, who lost their loved ones. Bringing up the facts together with an intimate narrative to tenderly and respectfully show the reality behind each case, giving a deeper dimension to all the lives affected by one single story, lives that are not included in the surveys. And yet, just reinforce its deepness and its urgency.

The prevention of suicide has not been adequately addressed due to a lack of awareness of suicide as a major public health problem and the taboo in many societies to openly discuss it. To date, only a few countries have included suicide prevention among their health priorities and only 38 countries report having a national suicide prevention strategy.

The brief, which is informed by a comprehensive review of existing evidence about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and mental health services, and includes estimates from the latest Global Burden of Disease study, shows that the pandemic has affected the mental health of young people and that they are disproportionally at risk of suicidal and self-harming behaviors. It also indicates that women have been more severely impacted than men and more likely to develop symptoms of mental disorders.

Now is the time we should stop ignoring it to talk about it, more than ever is crucial to understand the importance of mental health to all humankind.  

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