South Bronx
Faces of Addiction
Copyright Chris Arnade 2012
Faces of Addiction – Chris Arnade Photography
The stories of addicts in the South Bronx. I post people’s stories as they tell them to me. I am not a journalist, I don’t verify, just listen.
Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin,” after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother.
The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes.
Its very easy ito simply run with your crowd, to not explore the amazing diversity and perspectives that are offered.
Its also very easy to ignore others. By not looking, by not talking to them, we can often fall into constructing our own narrative that affirms our limited world view.
What I am hoping to do, by allowing my subjects to share their dreams and burdens with the viewer and by photographing them with respect, is to show that everyone, regardless of their station in life, is as valid as anyone else.