Exhibition Review: The Human Cost: America’s Drug Plague
Cheryl Schmidtchen, 67, being consoled at the funeral for her granddaughter Michaela Gingras in Manchester, N.H., on September 17th, 2017. Gingras, a heroin user, was 24.
Photograph by James Nachtwey for TIME
Written by: Trevor Bishai
In 2021, any mention of the word “epidemic” is likely to point to the coronavirus pandemic, which has fundamentally changed most people’s lives across the U.S. But while COVID-19 has dominated the media for the past year, it can easily divert our attention from other equally if not more ravaging plagues. For the U.S. has been in the midst of another epidemic for over twenty years, one that continues year after year and pervades every town and city in America. Opioid overdoses killed over 70,000 people in the U.S. in 2019, and over ten million Americans are known to have misused prescription opioids in the last year. Calling these statistics anything less than a public health crisis would be a travesty.
Kevin, 2011. © Jeffrey Stockbridge
While the opioid epidemic is certainly a public health crisis, describing it that way often overlooks the immense human suffering that is commonplace in the lives of users, their loved ones, and their communities. Rather than viewing this scourge as a set of statistics or as a ‘public health issue,’ viewing its human toll up close can arouse empathy and concern in ways that words or numbers cannot do. This is precisely what the Bronx Documentary Center aims to do with its latest show, The Human Cost: America’s Drug Plague. On view from June 5th until July 5th, the exhibition features a collection of photojournalistic projects by James Nachtwey, Jeffrey Stockbridge, and Mark E. Trent, all three of whom tell acutely personal stories of those who are the most directly affected by the opioid epidemic.
Mary, 2009. © Jeffrey Stockbridge
In the tradition of those who have taken steps to redefine the subject-artist relationship in journalistic photography, all three of these photographers highlight their subject’s voices through various media. Aiming to “slow” the photographic process, Jeffrey Stockbridge collaborated with the residents of the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, many of them drug users and their families. He invited them to share journal entries and audio recordings, providing details of their struggles with addiction which, in conjunction with photography, deepen our insight into these people’s lives. A photograph of a man named Robert Merchel holding a picture of his recently deceased brother, Edward, whom he lost to the epidemic, is accompanied by journal entries in which the two brothers write to each other. By sharing intimate stories relating to people’s experiences with drugs, Stockbridge not only humanizes the idea of addiction but attempts to ‘slow’ down the rapid pace of life in Kensington by engaging in a mode of portraiture that takes time, dialogue, and thought.
Allie and Regina catching snowflakes after a close friend's funeral. © Mark E. Trent
This mode is continued in Mark E. Trent’s photo essay where he closely follows the life of Allie Rambo, a former drug user from Greenbrier County, West Virginia, and her circle of friends. Introduced to the daily lives of a group of young people, Trent shares their stories in sharp detail with the use of interviews and photographs, many of which depict active use of heroin. In Trent’s photographs, we see groups of young people and are offered glimpses into what a life of addiction actually looks like, providing a visual narrative spanning anecdotes of love, loss, and despair.
Allie in traffic after losing a close friend in her recovery group to an overdose. © Mark E. Trent
The use of visual narrative is expanded upon in The Human Cost’s third documentary, The Opioid Diaries by James Nachtwey and Paul Moakley. Using video to show scenes of overdoses and trauma as well as stories of recovery, Nachtwey and Moakley explore the many different facets of the opioid epidemic, including a nonprofit organization providing resources for safe use, a mother giving birth to a child with neonatal abstinence syndrome, and correctional programs aimed at rehabilitation. By seeing up close the many different ways the epidemic manifests in individuals and communities, these documentarians remind us just how pervasive and multilayered this affliction continues to be.
A woman, who goes by Jen, struggling to inject herself in the freezing cold in Boston on Jan. 14. 2018.Photograph by James Nachtwey for TIME
One of the main reasons the opioid epidemic has been so pernicious has to do with the stigma attached to drug users. Unlike COVID-19, which can infect people through no fault of their own, opioid addiction begins with a choice, which leads many to view addicts less as victims and more as culprits. But this line of thinking fails on multiple levels, as addiction is both a diagnosable brain disorder and will certainly not be curbed by assigning blame to those who suffer the most. Absent journalism that humanizes the victims of this epidemic, the stigma will be here to stay. Considering this, the Bronx Documentary Center’s exhibition firmly calls this epidemic to our attention, and with the use of deeply intimate photography and video, arouses the necessary pathos and concern to fight back against it.
