My project started with a chance encounter with the one-armed bandit. He asked me for a photo of him and his love, a much older woman who couldn't return it the way he wanted her to. They still loved each other, though, and since she wouldn't be around much longer, he wanted a document of their time together.
This is a series of portraits from the Vancouver Downtown Eastside, Canada's poorest neighbourhood. They are of friends and strangers, taken mainly in the fall of 2006 and are intended to be a portrait of the community itself. Throughout the years, this neighbourhood has suffered from many challenges which include, but are not limited to, drug addiction, poverty, diseases such as HIV and hepatitis, prostitution, governmental and societal indifference, and a terrifyingly prolific serial killer.
We are defined not only by our failures, however, but by our triumphs, and the same can be said for this community. There is hope here, and family and belonging - vibrant and full of life with all the joys that accompany it.