Photo: Max Alexander & The Young Carers Program at Hospice Toronto
Hidden is a photo exhibition led and inspired by Hospice Toronto's Young Carers Program (YCP) that displays portraits of Young Carers living in Ontario and share their hidden lives as caregivers for family members who are ill, disabled, experiencing mental illness or addiction. Hidden shows the significant challenges that young carers face and the immense personal cost of their caring responsibilities.
YCP hopes that this exhibition will mobilize awareness of Young Carers across Ontario and help to build networks and systems for identifying and supporting Young Carers and their families.
We are incredibly proud to be able to support the Hidden exhibition which brings these issues to light, gives Young Carers a voice, and works towards ensuring they have the support they need.
You can catch a sneak peak of the exhibition by visiting our YouTube channel.
Additional updates for the exhibition will be posted here and on our social media pages (@ycptoronto).
YCP hopes that this exhibition will mobilize awareness of Young Carers across Ontario and help to build networks and systems for identifying and supporting Young Carers and their families.
We are incredibly proud to be able to support the Hidden exhibition which brings these issues to light, gives Young Carers a voice, and works towards ensuring they have the support they need.
You can catch a sneak peak of the exhibition by visiting our YouTube channel.
Additional updates for the exhibition will be posted here and on our social media pages (@ycptoronto).
More About Hidden
The objective of the Hidden exhibition is to raise awareness of young carers both in Toronto and across Ontario by sharing and highlighting the stories of Young Carers through photographic portraits taken by editorial photographer Max Alexander. The aim is to give Young Carers participating in the project a platform to share their experiences, triumphs, strengths, and goals for the future.
The Hidden exhibition is based on a concept developed by The Children’s Society, England, along with Photographer Max Alexander. The original ‘Hidden’ exhibition has been touring England since 2015 to raise awareness of the lives of Young Carers, and the hidden nature of these young people and their families.
This ground-breaking exhibition was extremely successful in England, raising public awareness about Young Carers, and the issues and challenges they face. It helped to enable increased support for them in schools, public services, programs and with the National Health Service. It has empowered the Young Carers, directly influenced national policy and been a valuable resource for academia.
It is hoped that this compelling portraiture exhibition will give moving insight into how being a Young Carer can affect a child’s well-being, education and life chances. More importantly, that it will also demonstrate how it can nurture hope, resilience and courage.
The Hidden exhibition is based on a concept developed by The Children’s Society, England, along with Photographer Max Alexander. The original ‘Hidden’ exhibition has been touring England since 2015 to raise awareness of the lives of Young Carers, and the hidden nature of these young people and their families.
This ground-breaking exhibition was extremely successful in England, raising public awareness about Young Carers, and the issues and challenges they face. It helped to enable increased support for them in schools, public services, programs and with the National Health Service. It has empowered the Young Carers, directly influenced national policy and been a valuable resource for academia.
It is hoped that this compelling portraiture exhibition will give moving insight into how being a Young Carer can affect a child’s well-being, education and life chances. More importantly, that it will also demonstrate how it can nurture hope, resilience and courage.
Max’s Story
Editorial photographer Max Alexander has photographed icons from the worlds of science, astronomy and politics, including Neil Armstrong, Stephen Hawking, Nelson Mandela, and Astronaut Tim Peake, for many prestigious organizations.
In the charity sector, Max has been working for The Children’s Society for over a decade, telling the stories of Young Carers. He was a Young Carer himself, from the age of nine to fourteen, caring for his mother who had schizophrenia. ‘I gained so much from being a young carer’ Max says. ‘It gave me the resources to empathize, to be responsive to people – and this has been hugely important for my photography.’
‘In this exhibition, I chose to portray these Young Carers as children and young people, which is what they should be. I wanted to show them as determined and resolute individuals, but vulnerable too. Their hidden stories then reveal themselves in their words.’ These character-based portraits will tell the human story of these remarkable children.
Max Alexander has been a professional photographer for over twenty years, working for a large number of prestigious clients around the world, and has several high-profile exhibitions to his name. He has photographed Young Carers extensively for over fifteen years, and produced powerfully intimate portraiture for The Children’s Society.
As well as his work with Young Carers, Max is well known for his work with science, and with astronomy in particular. He is the contract photographer for the UK Space Agency. In 2009 his portrait-led exhibition, Explorers of the Universe, was seen by over 100,000 people at the Royal Albert Hall, and had over two million related hits on his website. In November 2014, his Illuminating Atoms portrait series was shown at The Royal Albert Hall.
Visit his website here: http://www.maxalexander.com
For more information about the Hidden Exhibition, please contact Chelsea Alex (Program Coordinator) at 416-364-1666.
In the charity sector, Max has been working for The Children’s Society for over a decade, telling the stories of Young Carers. He was a Young Carer himself, from the age of nine to fourteen, caring for his mother who had schizophrenia. ‘I gained so much from being a young carer’ Max says. ‘It gave me the resources to empathize, to be responsive to people – and this has been hugely important for my photography.’
‘In this exhibition, I chose to portray these Young Carers as children and young people, which is what they should be. I wanted to show them as determined and resolute individuals, but vulnerable too. Their hidden stories then reveal themselves in their words.’ These character-based portraits will tell the human story of these remarkable children.
Max Alexander has been a professional photographer for over twenty years, working for a large number of prestigious clients around the world, and has several high-profile exhibitions to his name. He has photographed Young Carers extensively for over fifteen years, and produced powerfully intimate portraiture for The Children’s Society.
As well as his work with Young Carers, Max is well known for his work with science, and with astronomy in particular. He is the contract photographer for the UK Space Agency. In 2009 his portrait-led exhibition, Explorers of the Universe, was seen by over 100,000 people at the Royal Albert Hall, and had over two million related hits on his website. In November 2014, his Illuminating Atoms portrait series was shown at The Royal Albert Hall.
Visit his website here: http://www.maxalexander.com
For more information about the Hidden Exhibition, please contact Chelsea Alex (Program Coordinator) at 416-364-1666.