‘My Addiction, My Photographs’, by Graham MacIndoe
Over the past few years Scottish-born photographer Graham MacIndoe has been on what you could call a ‘character building’ trip. From the highs of a successful career in advertising photography to the highs of a serious drug addiction, and the inevitable descent into a world he never thought he’d find himself.
But tenacious as always in pursuit of an image Graham kept photographing in this new world of crime, drugs and self-destruction that he found himself in. Finally a brush with the law was inevitable, and Graham was incarcerated, facing deportation from the USA, his home of two decades. But luck and goodwill was on his side, and now, still in the USA, clean of drugs, and back stronger than ever Graham is using his photography and experiences to try to educate about the perils of drug addiction, to open conversation, to help others who may find themselves in similar predicaments. And he is doing that by showing the incredible self-portrait series of images he took during his own years in the grip of heroin and crack.
Welcome back Graham!
-Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert.
Some of Graham MacIndoe’s work can be seen here on the New York Magazine, with a very fascinating and educational Questions and Answer between Graham and his girlfriend Susan.
Recently Graham and Susan also appeared on Huffington Post Live TV (watch a 15min interview) to discuss the work, and the problems faced by drug addicts and their loved ones.
Visit Graham MacIndoe’s website to see further images from the drug years, to see his collection of bags that the drugs were sold in. ‘Sin City’, ‘Get Fucked Up’, ‘Bazooka’, and ‘Wake Up’, only some of the trade names used by drug dealers as they peddle their wares.
The above drug bag images were recently exhibited in Miami, and will form part of the content of a book of the whole project that Graham is currently working on with a designer and publisher.
Graham MacIndoe can be reached on twitter, or via his website.