A photographer and medical student gives voice to marginalized people in ‘Unacceptable Losses.’
By: Susan Van Dongen
In the text to the documentary project Unacceptable Losses: Drugs and Addiction in the United States, photographer Arthur Robinson Williams reflects that throughout history, almost every society has used drugs in some way, shape or form. A medical student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he is well aware of the dangers of drugs. Mr. Williams nonetheless writes that it seems absurd to "try and legislate an end to drug abuse."
"When President Nixon first declared ‘war’ on drugs around 1970, 80 percent of the budget went toward treatment," Mr. Williams writes. "Since those first years, our spending ratio has reversed so that about 80 percent of funding goes toward law enforcement while only 20 percent is allotted for treatment and prevention.
"At this point in American history, perhaps it is time to take a step back, survey the body count, the direction in which we are heading, and change our approach," he continues. "It is now that we must finally recognize addiction as a public health problem, and that for too long we have misclassified it as criminal activity and over-relied on law enforcement officials to do the work of doctors, counselors and other health professionals. Those among us struggling with addiction need to be embraced, not incarcerated."
Unacceptable Losses: Drugs and Addiction in the United States is on view at the Bernstein Gallery at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Dec. 4 to Jan. 19.
Designed to share the stories of everyday Americans who have been impacted by drugs and addiction, Unacceptable Losses specifically focuses on issues surrounding access to treatment, sentencing, syringe access, harm reduction and medical marijuana. Some of Mr. Williams’ recurring themes include the intersection of mental illness, incarceration, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, homelessness and poverty with drug abuse.
The photographer, who graduated magna cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School, toured the country from July 2004 to July 2005 visiting treatment facilities, outreach programs and homeless shelters to advocate for more of a public health approach to addiction and substance abuse.
"Too often individuals living with drug addiction are photographed first, as addicts mainlining dope or exhaling plumes of smoke," Mr. Williams says. "Or, they’re photographed as criminals intertwined with the cuffs of law enforcement, bent over the hoods of cruisers and what not. Lastly, if ever, they’re depicted as human.
"Such images over-represent fragments of life experience that speak more to exception than rule," he continues.
He says when he started the journey, he felt the United States had failed the individuals and communities struggling most with addiction. Mr. Williams who notes that the U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration of any country in the world and people of color are the ones most affected by this feels the government has turned its back on the people who need our support.
"Instead, it provides harsh punishments and sentences that only serve to exacerbate the disparities already tearing into our nation’s social fabric," he says. "I felt that our so-called ‘War on Drugs’ had become so over-dependent on law enforcement and incarceration to do the job of health professionals that the level of losses had simply become unacceptable."
In the exhibit, comprised of both color and black and white photography, we see Paula from Espanola, N.M. The small town just north of Santa Fe has the highest rate of heroin overdose in the United States. Text accompanying the photographs says Paula’s daughter is incarcerated and she expects she will permanently lose contact with her granddaughter, who has been taken by the state. She goes to the same methadone program her son attends.
There is Essie from Albuquerque, N.M., who is a medical marijuana patient suffering from AIDS-related illnesses.
"I met her the day she testified in front of the New Mexico State Senate Committee on Health in support of a bill that would protect the rights of medical marijuana patients throughout the state," Mr. Williams says. "The bill never passed both houses by the end of the session due to unrelated political complications."
Larry, Bill and Mike are from Baltimore and, in lieu of prison, were sent to I Can’t We Can, a therapeutic community-based drug treatment program there.
"None of the men have been in treatment before despite years of substance abuse," Mr. Williams says.
Like Larry, Bill and Mike, generations of Americans have lived their whole lives under the influence of the War on Drugs, Mr. Williams says. He points out the official government message mostly frames addiction as a moral failing and criminal behavior. It emphasizes incarceration and punishment to deal with what is ultimately a health issue the disease of addiction. Could there be a profit motive for the accent on law and order as opposed to treatment?
"As with any industry, there is a lot of money riding on the current system of U.S. mass incarceration," Mr. Williams says. "We incarcerate blacks at a higher rate now than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. I don’t think most Americans are aware of how much of a social experiment our approach to drugs has become. The costs are extravagant.
"As citizens, voters, community members and leaders, we have the ability to influence which arm of the government is swung forward with the greatest might, and thus which hand comes into view," he continues. "Will it be the hand which helps provide a platform of support, a stage for success to help lift those struggling with addiction out of the morass of drug dependency or will it be the one which forms a fist and falls upon them?"
Mr. Williams studied photography at Princeton University with Emmet Gowin, Lois Conner and Mary Berridge. He completed photography projects involving HIV/AIDS and the people of Ghana, the Cuban health system and injection drug use in New Jersey. A Jack Kent Cooke graduate scholar, he is currently working on public health initiatives and bioethics. Mr. Williams continues to take photographs.
A native of North Carolina, Mr. Williams seems to take photography as seriously as his interest in medicine. With influences such as Dorothea Lange, Nan Goldin and Larry Clark, he hopes his work gives voice to marginalized members of society while focusing on their humanity. The large format silver gelatin prints were mostly made with natural light and minimal manipulation. Mr. Williams says he’s been painting and drawing since childhood but didn’t study photography formally until his first year at Princeton.
"As soon as I started working on photography, I fell in love," Mr. Williams says. "I think photography is the best artistic medium for me because it so directly involves the people and issues I would like my art to be about. I realized after a few years of making photographs that it could merge with my academic and social interests. I began taking my cameras whenever I traveled or worked on a specific project. I try to use the photograph to speak with people in a way I wouldn’t otherwise."
Unacceptable Losses: Drugs and Addiction in the United States, photography
by Arthur Robinson Williams, is on view at the Bernstein Gallery, Princeton University’s
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Robertson Hall, lower
level, Dec. 4-Jan. 19. Artist’s reception: Jan. 12, 5:30 p.m. Gallery hours: Mon.-Fri.
9 a.m.-5 p.m. For information, call (609) 258-2222. On the Web: www.unacceptablelosses.org

