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."
More on Addiction: Faces of Addiction
B4YK1D5, Indigo Skies Photography, proof_by_contradiction, thought107, and 166 other people added this photo to their favorites.
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dyslexiaisokhere 14 months ago | reply
you do great work. I hope you extend the faces of addiction to other sects of society, where they are more difficult to spot.
pleinairstream pics 14 months ago | reply
This man's face (his eyes) broke my heart before I ever even read the description below. Such sadness is hard to bare.
sugarhil3 12 months ago | reply
wow, I want to reach out and help him! So sad! Praying someone can take him in and help him see there is healing and not to fall anymore to the demons that help him continue to drink.
Khumais [Breaking the Habbits] 12 months ago | reply
Keep up the good work Mr. Chris Arnade.
moondoxy 11 months ago | reply
such pain, such pain.
I am reading these, crying at each one, not knowing what to say, except, perhaps, namaste to each of them
Colourjunkie 11 months ago | reply
So sad that people destroy their children when they are young, leaving them to grow up to be broken adults.. it's terrible that this is so common..
VladBedolla 10 months ago | reply
This pic really, really made me cry. Reminds me my latte father, who was a human, like everybody else...
louisa_catlover 10 months ago | reply
very moving
morkenmannen 10 months ago | reply
Alcohol - most harmful drug and it's legal, available almost everywhere. :/ My father is an alcoholic too, so I know this pain, this fear, but I found the strength to overcome all this shit and I hope Mr. Bishop will find his own path, it's never too late to get back your life.
danyella2007 10 months ago | reply
This photo just broke my heart
schrodinger212 9 months ago | reply
Beautiful. Sad. Thank you.
kgdgrubert 5 months ago | reply
I see more humanity in this man than I do many other people. Contrary to popular belief, we addicts are not subhuman scum, automatons with one singular driving goal: more drugs. Addicts are humans, just like many other folks, fully deserving of the same respect & dignity as soccer moms or--believe it--even police officers (who often treat us as less-than-human mold bringing down property values in their neighborhoods.)
sierrasmum 5 months ago | reply
This. This is what photography is about.
marko9000 5 months ago | reply
this is a truly tragic portrait, guy never had a chance
FreeRishad 4 months ago | reply
Powerful photo and description.
mmw2848 4 months ago | reply
"I am a human, like everyone else" is perhaps the most important thing I have ever read.
evrny1 4 months ago | reply
The pain in his face brings a burning feeling to my chest. You can see the little boy he was, scared to death when his father abused him. And what a shame this is how we treat a child in that case --- with years in a correctional facility, when they really need years with a gentle therapist.
Justanotheroneofus 3 months ago | reply
It's 5.30 am here in Australia, I have been up going through all your photos since clicking a link to one on facebook at around 10pm. I haven't been able to stop even though I have kids to do for in about an hours time.
So far, of all the tears, and grins and triggered memories, this photo, before even reading the words beneath has been the most cutting, the most raw. I burst into tears and cried like a baby for so long before I could even read anything. This man is more real than most anyone raised with privilege can likely ever be themselves. His life has been stripped bare, his soul exposed for all to see. In some ways, seeing this photo has been like being present during a death or a birth for me. So intense, so absolutely as it is. Thank you Chris.
izabunnibuns 2 months ago | reply
In tears.
sunderlandartstudent 2 months ago | reply
Sad indeed, not restricted to America though.Shelters and institutions for those addicted or mentally ill used to be all over western countries. But the spread of Reaganomics had them all shut.
Same for programmes to get people off drugs and in to work.
It's why you see the explosion of homeless people across the western world.