Friday, January 16, 2009

Homelessness

Drug addiction and homelessness are somewhat interrelated. People start drug, lose everything but drug and the become homeless. Or, after becoming homeless, they start taking drug to survive on the street. I photographed a group of homeless people living in the sewer and in the basement of an apartment. They live on selling empty bottles and junks or stealing. They inject or swallow many pain killers at once as a substitute for opium. It has serious physical and mental side effects.






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're in there, man. Love the shots. Have really been enjoying this whole body of work evolve and come together.

Andrei Popovici said...

Really up close and personal. One question though, how did you get access? And how did you leave that place with your camera intact? :)

Ikuru said...

Thanks for the comments here.
Andrei - I've been working with a fixer Vova, and he knows a local charity group. And, we did some favor for them - like giving ride and stuff. I've been with the charity group for like three months. Then, we went to the homeless people's place with a homeless guy who lives with them and has known a lady running the charity group for 10 years. So, it was easier to get some trust from them. I also bring some cigarettes for them. I now speak some Russian, and actually it's easy to have conversation with them since they are interested in foreigners. There are very few journalists here. That's another reason why they don't care much.