SNOW ANGELS –
May 21, 2021 – Fearless and prolific conflict photographer James Nachtwey has been at the frontline of battles all over the world. On this occasion, he travelled with visual journalist and editor Paul Moakley throughout the states of New Hampshire, Ohio, Boston, and San Francisco to send these dispatches from the war on drugs.
Jeffrey Stockbridge documents life in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighbourhood during a span of six years. Once a thriving industrial town, unemployment hit an all-time high after closures of the area’s textile mills. “When the jobs disappeared, the drugs moved in,” explains Stockbridge in a statement from the gallery. “Today, half of Kensington residents live at or below the poverty line.” Filmmaker and photographer Mark Trent tells the story of a group of close friends in West Virginia as they’re pulled into the orbit of addiction and, ultimately, tragic death. “None of us knew what was happening or how destructive this would be. We began seeing more and more overdoses and suicides in our community,” says Trent. “The details were scarce and the stigma that came with drug abuse masked the early deaths until it was so common it didn’t phase us anymore; the word ‘pillhead’ began being used to describe ‘those people on drugs’. This was long before it touched nearly everyone in West Virginia and across the country.”
