Men with Heart
This powerfully moving multi-media interactive exhibition has won multiple awards for its impact on the health and well-being of both men and boys in Australia in 2019. Shot in complete confidentiality over almost two decades, this documentary exhibition presents a deeply unique body of work in both its intimacy and scope intended to both challenge and explore what defines healthy masculinity in Australian culture today.
In a time when much of the world’s media is choosing to focus on the darker side of what men are capable of this project provides a refreshing, welcome and important counterbalance by portraying the open-heartedness, courage, and vulnerability of men coming together to face their issues and work on becoming better men - better fathers, brothers, partners and sons.
A powerful curation of printed imagery is accompanied by written stories and poems from the men within them and in-depth video interviews from attendees of the Tasmanian Mens Gathering expressing their heartfelt experiences.
The Men with Heart exhibition was held in Adelaide in August 2023
Read more about the media and awards associated with Men with Heart here
Artists
Paul Hoelen
Paul is a multi-international award winning photographer and AIPP Master of Photography based in Tasmania. He has been attending the Tasmanian Men’s Gatherings since 2001 and has been the sole documentary photographer for the event where most of the imagery for the exhibition has come from.
Originally born in New Zealand to a Dutch Sailor and an American Nun, Paul has managed to put his four passports to excellent use before eventually settling on the beautiful, wild island of Tasmania.
Self taught, travel hungry and with a healthy thirst to grow as an image-maker he thrives on the challenge and freshness of shooting a wide diversity of genres, ranging from fine art nudes, landscapes, and large-scale event photography through to fashion, travel, documentary and environmental portraiture – though he’s most renowned for his exquisite landscape imagery.
Paul is a Master of Photography in the AIPP II and Fellow of the NZIPP II, two times winner and 4 x Finalist for International Photographer of the Year in NZ, three times Tasmanian Professional Photographer of the Year and seven times Tasmanian Landscape Photographer of the Year. He judges regularly at a state, national and international level, runs photography workshops worldwide and writes for numerous magazines and publications. He is a member of the progressive landscape collaborative The Light Collective, an Ambassador for Asukabook fine art books and his work is represented by One Fine Print in Australia and Source Photographica in Australia and the USA.
Troy Melville
Troy Melville is a filmmaker based in Tasmania. He has been a producer and director on a number of factual documentaries including Testing Taklo and the series Alive & Kicking for SBS, Andrew, sauveteur de Baleines en Tasmania for France 3 and Les échouages de baleines en Tasmanie, for Thalassa Cable. He was the associate producer on Stormsurfers, Dangerous Banks, produced for Discovery Asia, and a cameraman on the theatrical feature Shadow of doubt. Troy has worked as an ABC Open producer in Southern Tasmania and also had a key role on a range of art projects, including The Happiness Project and Portraits of Invisible People for Kickstart Arts, was the collaborative filmmaker with artist Fiona Foley for the films Vexed and Bliss (which is on permanent display at the MCA in Sydney) and was the media director of Dying to Tell, which was displayed at the Australian Regional Arts Conference. Troy has recently completed two short films, Blood of Life and Taxi Music.in Australia and the USA.
