DERBY.- QUAD in Derby presents a new exhibition by Mark Neville, entitled ‘Battle Against Stigma’ which aims to address the stigma of mental health problems in the military. The exhibition is part of FORMAT International Photography Festival Off Year Programme.

This, the first UK exhibition of Mark Neville’s Battle Against Stigma project aims to address issues of mental health problems in the military. Also included is the UK premiere of Displaced Ukrainians, focussing on the plight of children in a zone of dispute and conflict. The exhibition is also part of QUAD’s year-long season of ‘Wellbeing’.

Mark Neville works at the intersection of art and documentary, investigating the social function of photography Often working with closely knit communities, in a collaborative process intended to be of practical benefit to the subject, his photographic projects to date have frequently made the people he portrays the primary audience or beneficiary of the work.

The Battle Against Stigma exhibition in QUAD Gallery features photographs, films, emails from former service personnel and copies of a book, also titled Battle Against Stigma, that recounts Neville’s own personal experience when he was sent out to Helmand in 2011 as an official war artist. The exhibition is intended to give some insight into the issue of adjustment disorder and PTSD which he suffered from on his return to the UK.

Paired with the films, photographs and e-mails all relating to Neville’s Helmand experience, are photographs and video interviews the artist made in Ukraine in 2017. Displaced Ukrainians is a collaboration between Neville and the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Berlin. The project focuses on children in Ukraine as one of the most vulnerable groups affected by displacement, and echoes Neville’s photographs of Afghani youth, often emerging like phantoms from the landscape, mirroring the age of the young UK troops they are engaging with in Helmand.

The Battle Against Stigma exhibition at QUAD will act as a platform to connect with veterans, artists, academics, charities and policy makers, uniting the different sectors of society necessary to address improved mental healthcare for service personnel. QUAD and FORMAT would like to thank the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Berlin for the loan of the artworks Displaced Ukrainians.

Mark Neville: Battle Against Stigma is on display in QUAD Gallery from Friday 30th March to Sunday 24th June 2018. The Gallery is free to visit and open Monday to Saturday 11:00am to 5:00pm and Sundays 12 noon to 5:00pm. The exhibition will stay open until 9:00pm for Gallery Late nights on Thursdays 26th April, 17th May and 7th June The Exhibition launch will take place on Thursday 29th March, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

Mark Neville will lead an Exhibition Tour and Talk as part of Derby Peace Week in QUAD Gallery on Saturday 28th April, from 1:00pm. Mark will be explaining his work in Afghanistan as an official British War Artist, his battle with PTSD on returning home and his campaign to highlight the stories of veterans also suffering from PTSD, and how this led him to make new work on the estimated 1.8 million internally displaced Ukrainians resulting from the war in the Donbas.