About Us

The Faces of Fortitude Project began October 2017 - in the effort to create and encourage cross trauma sharing and healing within the suicide loss/attempt and first responder communities. The portraits capture moments of immense grief and loss as well as rays of light and discoveries of hope that once were feared never would return. 

MISSION

The Faces of Fortitude project aims to provide safe spaces for healing through interactive art pop-ups and exhibits, speaking events and one-on-one portrait sessions around the world. The mission of this ever evolving work is to provide an ongoing conversation that brings often stigmatized topics and issues, into the light and out of whispers. 

Connecting with people at moments of intense pain or joy - is part of our human nature. 

It is our hope, that if someone out there finds themselves in space where they are faced with a moment in time where they question their own mortality, and it feels too difficult to sit in that space alone…they will remember this space where it was safe to share painful things out loud. Who knows, THAT could be just the light someone out there needs to see in order to stay.. just one more day. 

WHO IS M?

M is a newly published author, mental health advocate, TEDx speaker, and photographer from Seattle, Washington. In 2017 M started the Faces of Fortitude project: An ongoing art and storytelling installation, shining light on stories of fortitude and resilience within the mental health and suicide epidemics. The project initially began as a way to help M in their own healing of losing their only brother to suicide when he was 26. In just 8 years it has grown into a body of work (both digitally and in person) that uses story-telling around pain as a testament to the different levels of grief. 

M’s goal is to capture the resilience and fortitude of the human spirit. They hope the project can become a mirror for people, to help them see the light and joy in their own images, as they realize they have survived the darkest of moments. M is determined to show how much power can be found within when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and share our stories. In December of 2024 in honor of their 50th trip around the sun, M published their first book entitled The Little Bloom Book. It contains stories, lessons and plant care based steps that helped them survive and come back to themselves during the early years of quarantine when their own mental health struggled.