Photo credit: Helena Berg, placeboworld FB, photo edit by Marti |
My first event today is related to a breathtaking photograph by Brian Molko taken by a prominent British photographer and Brian's friend, Helena Berg. It captures Brian's face under a layer of ice. I admit that I can't get enough of that photo.
It was one of the photographs created for a charity exhibition called ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐, which took place in November 2015.
To find out what actually happened in 2015, I will present an excerpt from an article on the CALMZONE website, where there is an interview with one of the ambassadors of the ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, with the English actor ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐พ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐ก๐ก ๐ฝ๐ค๐ฌ๐๐ง:
⭐„It came about after a CALM event I’d organised in Leeds in March. Placebo kindly agreed to dedicate the Leeds show of their tour to help raise awareness of CALM, and I put together a secret after-show party in collaboration with the uni. Both Brian and Stef from the band DJ’d, and have been amazingly supportive. I was so grateful for them getting behind the charity and their continued efforts. Helena [Berg, acclaimed photographer responsible for much of rock band Placebo’s artwork during their 20 year career] had heard all about the event and CALM via Brian, and asked to be put in touch with me to discuss her ideas; she talked about getting a load of photographers together to do something for the charity, as the cause really resonated with her."⭐
◾๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ข๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐ผ?
...A culture where the expectation of the stereotypical ALPHA male is relentlessly reinforced...
„The predominant model of the alpha male; strong, stoic and unfeeling, still persists in popular culture and reinforces a concept of masculinity that is pervasive and insidious – one that doesn’t allow for anxiety, vulnerability or dialogue.“
„In 2014, 4,623 men took their own lives in Britain. That works out to more than 12 deaths a day, and accounts for 76% of the total suicides in the UK in 2014. In fact, suicide is the biggest killer for men under 45 in the UK.“◾
Here you can find more photos from the Alpha exhibition.
http://bitly.ws/9FSE
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฉ๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ-๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด - ๐๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ, ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฆ๐ญ - ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐๐๐๐.
⭐To photographer and Alpha curator Helena Berg, finding out the disturbingly high rate of male suicides was a call to action.
“I was so shocked and wanted to help,” she says. “I contacted four fellow photographers and we set out to interpret different parts of the male emotional experience. We called the project Alpha to reflect the cultural pressures put upon men to live up to the stereotypical “alpha male” model ... and we concentrated on emotions that would lead a person not to speak, like anxiety, depression and loneliness."
Berg herself concentrated on feelings of isolation, by photographing men under ice and water.
“Not as a reference to drowning,” she swiftly clarifies, “but to illustrate immobilisation and the feeling of ‘being frozen’, which many depressed people experience. I used Perspex on top of the subject [Placebo’s Brian Molko] for the illusion of ice and to create photos that are haunting and tranquil at the same time.
Alpha was timed to open on International Men’s Day, says Berg, “to highlight this gender disparity issue, where three times as many men are taking their lives as women."⭐
๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ.๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 2015
Helena's photos, where there is also a picture of Brian
http://www.helenaberg.com/
Photo credit: Joseph Llanes |
๐ธ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข „๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป“ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ณ๐ธ
The Placebo rarities auction was the logical result of many years of consideration by our favorites. During their career, they accumulated a lot of things in various storage spaces, to which they had a very nostalgic relationship. That's why the idea matured in their heads that it would be great to offer these treasures to their fans.
It was an amazing idea to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Placebo.
⭐„There just seemed to be an endless list of stuff we’d gathered since that day it all began in a London tube station two decades ago,” Placebo said in a press statement. “As the big ‘20 Years’ drew nearer, we thought it may be time to sift through it all before the hungry city rats got to it; see what would be worth saving from the proverbial fire. We thought to ourselves that maybe some people would even be interested in owning some of these items. Stranger things have been bought in the past; celebrity locks of hair and royal pairs of underwear have both passed under the auction hammer in recent years.
So we proceeded to scour our own personal wardrobes, our management office and the band’s own dark and dusty storage space to see what was hiding in cobweb covered corners,” the statement continued.
“Guitar pedals that we thought were lost, and posters of gigs that never happened surfaced along with gloriously roughed-up stage gear that we thought had been lost in transit to South America back in 2001. While sifting through the reams of black clothes on the wardrobe rail, out poked little forgotten classics from designers we love and pieces worn during the times we rubbed shoulders with our heroes. The dresses and denim, the leather and PVC. The rare and unseen, the signed and played, the disused pedals and rare releases were all there too. And now they are ready, ready for new homes.”⭐
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ „๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ค.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ“ ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 2017
⭐“They’re pretty iconic items,” Molko told NME about what’s on offer to their fans in the auction.
“For example, we have the jumper that I wore in the ‘Pure Morning’ video, we have the space suit that I wore in the ‘Special K’ video, clothes from the stage or album artwork. There’s also a lot of rarities in the form of a Japanese mini-album of the ‘Nancy Boy’ single, posters. These are clothes that we don’t wear any more and they’ve just been in a cage where we store our equipment.“
He continued: “The money is going to the Mercy Centre in Bangkok, which is a home for underprivileged children which we’ve supported for a long time. And we’re also giving money to CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably. They’re trying to raise awareness of male suicide among young men in the UK. The rate is really, really quite high. We need to remove the stigma surrounding depression, and one of their goals is to get more men to talk about their feelings instead of keeping it all inside and isolating one’s self – and eventually ending up with quite a tragic outcome.”
“CALM is a charity that’s close to my heart because depression is a condition which I suffer from myself,” Molko told NME.
“There are various forms of help out there.
It’s a disease like any other. Depression and addiction are both recognised by the World Health Organisation as diseases. If someone had MS or cancer, you would listen to them. There’s still a stigma attached to depression, and a lot of men in particular feel that it’s a sign of weakness to talk about it. What we’re trying to do with CALM is remove that stigma in society.”⭐
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฐ „๐๐๐.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ“ ๐๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 2017
Photo credit: Marco Vittur |
“๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐๐๐,
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ข, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ช๐ต ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ £27,500. ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ!
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ,
๐๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ”๐
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ „๐๐๐.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ“ March 2018
The auction started on September 29 and ended on October 6, 2017.
Is there anyone among you who managed to get a rare piece from the Placebo collection? You have a unique opportunity to share with us again the pure feeling of joy that flooded you at that moment.๐
A few words in conclusion.
Maybe this post is too long.
Maybe it's hard to read.
There may be too much information in it that doesn't really interest you.
But it was important for me to combine these two events into one post.
Maybe there are people among you who have wondered why Brian cares so much about supporting Calm. Why it is mentioned so often.
Placebo have the ability to change the world around you, and that's what happens.๐๐๐
Post by Marti