Special Edition
G R A D UAT E S T U DE N T S H OWC A S E
VISUAL COMMUNICATION
PICTURES OF A DDI C T I ON photo documentary by Angela Shoemaker, a graduate student in visual communication, spotlights The Netherlands’ unique approach to handling drug addiction: state-sponsored nursing homes for disabled, homeless addicts. With funding from a Fulbright Scholarship, Shoemaker followed aging individuals living in a nursing facility who had been using drugs for 20 to 30 years. The government recognizes that some addicts aren’t able to or don’t want to be rehabilitated, and so provides treatment, care, and education instead of incarceration, the student explains. Many of the women Shoemaker photographed used drugs because they were sexually and physically abused in their youth. Several women turned to prostitution to support their drug addiction, and later developed diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C. The residents of the nursing home are considered the first generation to use crack, which didn’t exist before the 1970s. They used the drug recreationally without realizing its addictive qualities; one man at the facility described crack as “a sentence to hell.” Shoemaker, who plans to display her work in America and The Netherlands, hopes her photographs will change people’s perspectives of drug addiction. She believes that too often people view drug addiction as a choice, blaming the drug addict, and fail to look at the societal influences that contributed to the problem. “I hope to promote empathy and understanding for people who have fallen through the cracks, for people who make different choices in life,” Shoemaker says. “Many of the drug addicts’ lives were tragic. Drugs were their outlet.” Milissa Hudepohl
The photographer followed individuals who had been using drugs for 20 to 30 years.
Jeff Lovett
FINE ART
M I N I N G FO R A RT eff Lovett makes some of the most unsightly, tragic parts of Appalachia appear beautiful. A graduate student in sculpture and expanded practice, he spent last summer capturing images of acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines, which can pollute regional watersheds.
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