The Human Cost: America’s Drug Plague
On View: June 5-July 5, 2021
Bronx Documentary Center Annex
364 E. 151st St, Bronx, NY 10455
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.
This exhibition contains graphic content that may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
This exhibition is curated by Mike Kamber and Cynthia Rivera.
Spanish translations by Maria de la Paz Galindo.
Exhibitions at the Bronx Documentary Center are made possible by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Foundation support is provided by the Clif Family Foundation, Chris Hondros Fund, Four Friends Foundation, Ford Foundation, Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, Lawrence Foundation, Pierre and Tania Matisse Foundation, Peck Foundation, Scherman Foundation, and the Van Agtmael Fund. Special thanks to our corporate sponsors Adobe, BronxCare Health System, Fujifilm, and Montefiore Health System.
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 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.