I was born and raised outside Detroit. Growing up, the auto industry still held the city together by thin threads and kept the suburbia surrounding Detroit populated and stable, but the recession of 2008 disrupted this tenuous stability. Detroit became a ghost city. However, no matter how hard life becomes, it still seems impossible to leave what’s most familiar.
These are some of the people I grew up with, the people who shared my first kiss and crept out the window in the middle of the night with me, only to have nowhere to run. They are former ravers, former teen drug dealers, and former innocents. Most are barely 21. They have already lived through so much and are just out of their teens, some with children in tow. Being young is something far in the past.
These photographs are about what life looks like during that premature transition, during a recession. Many of these photos are of my friends living in small towns off the side of the freeway. Not able to afford the gas money to commute to better careers, they live on welfare or compete for fast food jobs.
These photographs are about what life looks like during that premature transition, during a recession. Many of these photos are of my friends living in small towns off the side of the freeway. Not able to afford the gas money to commute to better careers, they live on welfare or compete for fast food jobs.