From "A Room in the City"

This is a photograph from my book "A Room in the City" by Anvil Press 2010.  The book is a series of portraits of people living in the hotel rooms of Vancouver's DTES.  This is area, often referred to as Canada's poorest post code, is home to many people suffering from mental illnesses, poverty and drug addiction.  It is on the other hand one of the most caring communities in our society filled with spirituality and the remnants of an incredible human struggle against the demons haunting those shunned from the mainstream of life.  The woman in this photograph died of a drug overdose two years ago and perished in her bathtub.  Recently there has been an outbreak of chemically laced lethal drugs causing death in the DTES.  The Insite injection facility on Hastings is able to offer medical care for those addicts who mistakenly take that deadly dose.