The picture, "Mr. Bishop" is one that really touched my heart. Chris' words are:
"Chris Bishop was drinking in front of a liquor store when we met. A resident in the local homeless shelter he told me the following.
At the age of thirteen, Chris killed his father, stabbing him with a knife after a childhood of abuse. He spent the next eighteen years in correctional facilities. 'When he was drunk and mad he would hold me out the apartment window and threaten to drop me to the street, eight floors below. He beat me and my mother all the time. I have been drinking ever since. To forget.'
When I asked how he wanted to be described, his eyes teared up and he said "I am human, like everyone else."
At the age of thirteen, Chris killed his father, stabbing him with a knife after a childhood of abuse. He spent the next eighteen years in correctional facilities. 'When he was drunk and mad he would hold me out the apartment window and threaten to drop me to the street, eight floors below. He beat me and my mother all the time. I have been drinking ever since. To forget.'
When I asked how he wanted to be described, his eyes teared up and he said "I am human, like everyone else."
So many of the people that Chris photographed have such heart breaking stories. There is a past English teacher who got into drugs and lost his job, family and home. Or the woman who was a child prostitute.
Even though the stories are sad, I love photography like this. It amazes me the open-ness that people will have in front of a camera and with a set of ears to listen. I'm always impressed how a camera and photographer can capture someone's heartbreak. I would love to get Chris in the gallery that I work with, but unfortunately the city that I live in is extremely religious and *ahem* old fashioned so I don't think drug addiction and prostitutes would go over well.
*All of the photos and the bio are property of Chris Arnade. I just really wanted to spread the work of an amazing photographer.*
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