Jose Ramon “The White Shirt Project”

The Center

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Photographer Jose Ramon used black and white portrait photography to document and discuss PTSD and depression. Through a series of portraits each subject discusses their experiences with mental health and what they did and/or are doing to be their true selves.

As a Bronx native photographer, Ramon is always concerned about aesthetics and how others interpret his work. He considers himself an evolving artist, focusing on projects that are personal as a catalyst to evoke and transmit a range of emotions and thoughts that are not constricted or limited to specific notions, interpretations or mindsets. Henceforth, The White Shirt Project was born.

Ramon shares that PTSD and depression make it hard to devote time and care to his own afflictions. And even after the diagnosis, he found it much easier to smile, shoot and walk away without too much involvement or commitment. The thought of engaging in any type of dialogue without his camera was not an option since photography had become his only means of visceral, creative expression. On good and special days, Ramon puts on a white shirt. It immediately becomes the identifier that he’s not only clear but also present. Wearing a white shirt empowers him. Wearing a white shirt reminds him of death and rebirth however polar that may seem.