After the publication of Walker Evans’ and James Agee’s “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” no longer would the photographer be viewed as an objective and benevolent witness. Photographers choose what to include in a portrait as well as what to exclude, thus framing their discourse, arguments, and points of reference.

How can we make policy if we do not know those who it confines and/or liberates? Drug users quickly become static characters in the policy arena, devoid of individuality and human value. As Damasio writes, “Thought is made largely from images,” and from our thought flows policy. These twenty photographs are an attempt to represent the voices of drug users, to allow them input, to better reveal their true humanity.

These photographs were taken by a group of drug users I have gotten to know over the last two years. The goal of the original project, the orchestration of which I was not a part of, was to give a voice to a community often spoken of and spoken for, but rarely allowed to speak for itself. The participants were taught in 2001 how to use manual 35mm cameras and were assigned to take pictures that revealed how drug use affected their lives in relation to a particular theme, such as housing or their family. Over 2,000 photographs were taken.

As a photographer myself, I appreciated the value of their work and recognized great potential for collaboration after learning of their inability to actually print all of the photographs they had taken due to a shortage of funds. Following the collaborative tradition of groundbreaking photographers such as Wendy Ewald and Martin Rosenthal, I have allowed my voice as an artist to commingle with theirs in the creation of a final collaborative project.

These photographs are their stories, told in their words. I was but an editor of their prose, selecting the most salient of chapters offered, and rendering them fit for publication.

For more information about drug policy in the United States, visit the Drug Policy Alliance: www.drugpolicy.org

After the publication of Walker Evans’ and James Agee’s “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” no longer would the photographer be viewed as an objective and benevolent witness. Photographers choose what to include in a portrait as well as what to exclude, thus framing their discourse, arguments, and points of reference.

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Williams is a senior Woodrow Wilson School major from Greensboro, N.C. The photographs printed below are a part of his senior thesis project, which is on display from April 9-18 at 185 Nassau St.