Last year, America lost 81,000 men, women and children to drug overdoses. Driven primarily by the opioid crisis–and abetted by the pill-pushing of pharmaceutical companies–millions of individuals and countless families were devastated by addiction.
The war on drugs has failed: from sea to shining sea, fentanyl, heroin, K2, crystal meth, cocaine and other drugs are available in nearly every town and city. Drug-related violence has endangered many of our streets, including Courtlandt Avenue, home to the Bronx Documentary Center.
After decades of ever-changing anti-drug strategies, we are still left with familiar and yet unanswered questions: how to stop the overdoses; how to keep our youth from addiction; how to stop drug-related violence; how to offer humanitarian treatment.
The Bronx Documentary Center’s upcoming photo exhibition, The Human Cost: America’s Drug Plague, explores these issues and portrays the human toll of America’s drug scourge. The deeply personal stories told here–of losing children, families and freedom–provide a stark but compassionate look at a very complex dynamic.
James Nachtwey, the dean of American conflict photographers, reports with visual journalist and editor, Paul Moakley, from New Hampshire, Ohio, Boston, San Francisco and beyond. Jeffrey Stockbridge documents Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood over the course of 6 years. And Mark Trent follows a tight-knit group of friends in West Virginia through cycles of substance abuse and tragic death. The BDC hopes this exhibition will lead to productive discussions about an intractable American problem.
Exhibition curated by Michael Kamber and Cynthia Rivera
The Human Cost: America’s Drug Plague
James Nachtwey | Paul Moakley
Jeffrey Stockbridge
Mark E. Trent
On View (In Person): June 5 – July 5, 2021
Bronx Documentary Center
Gallery Hours: Wed- Fri 3-7PM • Sat- Sun 1-5PM
BDC’s Annex Gallery, 364 E 151st St, Bronx, NY 10455
