Heroines: The Photographs of Lincoln Clarkes (NSFW)

Most often, addiction and the struggles that accompany it stay hidden behind closed doors. Yet in 1997, photographer Lincoln Clarkesexplored the streets and alleyways of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, capturing and exposing the images of over 400 female heroin addicts over the course of five years.

The project began with a 20-year-old addict named Patricia Johnson, a woman whose mix of innocence and illness drew Clarkes in. She invited the photographer into her home and simultaneously welcomed him into her world -- a place of danger, distrust and broken dreams. Clarkes then began photographing a number of heroin and crack cocaine addicts he encountered along the way, both to provide proof of Vancouver's horrific drug-addled underbelly and to give these long-neglected women a moment in the spotlight.

VIA