In 2004, anywhere from 20 to 30 young addicts lived on the ninth floor of an elegant narrow building overlooking Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The squatters had turned the sprawling apartment into a dark, desperate and chaotic place.
People hustled, scored, shot and smoked wherever they could. Friends conned each other for their next hit. They slept on piles of clothes on the floor. The power was shut off; the bathroom unusable; the kitchen filled with garbage. Anything of value was sold off.
For nearly three years, Jessica Dimmock followed this crew documenting what happened to them after eviction, how they fought to get clean, sank deeper into addiction, went to jail, started families and struggled to survive.
Hidden in an elegant building in a wealthy Manhattan neighborhood, was a sprawling apartment filled with young drug addicts. This is the story of their battle with addiction, each other, and themselves as they search for some kind of redemption.
Note: Not all comments will be posted due to space and time constraints.
Kelly -- New York, NY
May 22, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Wow. Breathtaking images here. Fantastic work.
Jordan -- London
May 4, 2008 at 7:56 PM
it truly is a messed up way to live, but i dont feel bad for them. However, I think Dionn deserves alot of respect for manning up and admitting that his mess of a life is no one's fault but his own. It's very inspiring to see the effect a child can have on people's lives and that it is never too late to turn your life around.
Kathryn -- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma U.S.A
Apr 21, 2008 at 8:50 PM
Jessica thank you for taking this story out of Fifth Av and showing the rest of the world.The photography is compelling without being sentimental or judgemental.I hope the best for the parents of that precious baby and will be rooting for them as well.
gabi dworecki -- sao paulo- london
Apr 7, 2008 at 7:19 AM
I am also sitting here and crying, have a horrible fear of heroin and makes me feel weird looking at the pictures at the same time that impresses me and I can't look when they are shooting. I really hope people were stronger, but rarely seems to work. Anyways great job, no matter what.
Jade -- St. Petersburg, FL
Mar 27, 2008 at 11:18 PM
The audio is lacking ambient sound and pulls down the quality of the amazing photography.
John -- London, UK
Mar 2, 2008 at 7:12 PM
Interestingly, I didn't find this multimedia treatment of the work nearly as compelling as the simple edit of mute stills I originally saw on Jessica's web site.In this case I got bored about half way through and scrolled down to read the comments.Then I could only hear the audio, which was dull and unenlightening.Then I scrolled back up just in time to read the text about someone applying to go back to school and, I'm sorry to say, the overall impression I was left with was of a rather bland, obvious TV documentary.Which is a pity, because I loved the pictures when I first saw them by themselves.
samiya -- san diego
Feb 15, 2008 at 8:39 PM
i hope the best for the parents of that presious baby, this video show's me that everyone has obsticles in their way however different we might be, and it shows me that i shouldn't let fear be a reason i dont do things, its so sad . May God help us all
Sherley Terry -- Brisbane, Australia
Feb 5, 2008 at 4:13 AM
this photography is excellent!
stanton ryan -- melbourne, australia
Jan 27, 2008 at 7:48 AM
deeply moving, so sensitive and respectful, a learning, thank you
kim -- san francisco, california
Jan 23, 2008 at 10:31 PM
Made me think of the documentary Black Tar Heroin, filmed in San Francisco in the late nineties.
Jennifer -- Newport, RI USA
Jan 13, 2008 at 6:39 PM
I am sitting here crying. What amazine stories you have told through these photos. i wish i could ask you how you did it..how you met these individuals and got close to them in order to take such intimate photos. (and how you didn't get hurt in the process too?)Dionn is right, we are inherently good. What a beautiful little baby girl that couple has. I hope for the best for their family , I (and others I am sure) will be rooting for them!
joseph -- alpharetta
Jan 10, 2008 at 10:28 PM
Dimmock followed this crew for three years? And did she try and do anything to help them, or did she just photograph them at their lowest moments for an emotionally compelling story?
David Blumenfeld -- Jerusalem, Israel
Jan 7, 2008 at 2:02 AM
Incredible. Moving. Horrible and Beautiful.Great work, Jessica!
Ross Alderson -- Warwick, England
Jan 2, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Great story telling. The photography is compelling without being sentimental or judgemental. I really enjoyed the ride.
YiBien Tham -- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dec 19, 2007 at 2:20 AM
Good journalism work. We all agree a picture tells a story, this series of images allow us to take a glimpse of Jessie, Rachel, and Dionn's live.
Patrick Brown -- Thailand
Dec 13, 2007 at 1:27 PM
powerful, intense, compelling, sad, horrifying, horrific, real, there's another thousand words to describe this an amazing body of work. This is story telling at it's best, honest...! thank you for taking this story out of Fifth Av and showing the rest of the world.
Dave -- New Jersey
Dec 12, 2007 at 5:33 PM
I have ridden the train in from jersey w/ the couple a few times. They were nice, and ive never seen anyone pay so much attention and love a kid so much. Good Luck
Goh Iromoto -- Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dec 12, 2007 at 4:56 PM
Thank you for this.Jessica, you have an incredible ability to connect and capture the most heartfelt aspects of the human spirit. It is also truly an inspiration to us all, not only as photographers, but as simple human beings.thanks.
Pedro Guimaraes -- Braga, Portugal
Dec 12, 2007 at 3:21 PM
I think this multimedia piece turns a wonderful book into a sunday holiwood movie... somewhere in the middle i lost the feeling of reallity, because of the editing techniques applied. For me, the gratest error is to "calm down" the viewer in the end, creating a nice "the end" chapter... shit never ends, we all know that.
