Jeff Bierk

unagi CC BY-NC 30/03/2015

Jeff Bierk.
Les photos de Jeff hantent, par leur beauté et le dégoût qu’elles peuvent susciter dans le même temps.
▻http://jeffbierkphotography.tumblr.com

http://38.media.tumblr.com/avatar_a93df7709b0e_128.png

Sid was my friend and he died last week. He was murdered, stabbed in the heart. I’ve been away, and heard about it today. It wasn’t in the news, because, as Derek said, “If an Indian dies on the street… no one gives a shit. They blame it on alcoholism, blame it on being homeless…they say it’s a ‘lifestyle choice’ ” Sid was 40 years old, he had only been in Toronto for three months, and I remember the first time we met he swore that he knew me. We became good friends, I saw him almost every day and through some hard times. Sid was so kind to me, we talked about everything. He was always laughing, even the nights when he was shaking from the cold. I have nothing but love and respect for him - he was a gentle, warm man - he was a true survivor of the system. This afternoon we honoured him in the Back 40 with photographs and flowers. It may not have been “important” enough for his death to make the news, but he was important to me, important in our community and he will not be forgotten. He affected my life in the most beautiful way.

▻https://vimeo.com/100968603

Chaine Vimeo ▻https://vimeo.com/jeffbierk

Melenie
Melanie: …Albuquerque, Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas, Chicago, Miami, New York, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and ah… I accumulated quite a few charges… (laughs) throughout the years, and ah, when 9-11 hit, they started running your name. They didn’t used to run your name, like, state, country wide… n’through NCIC, they used to just do it country wide. But now since 9-11, they’re running it everywhere. So they came up with I had 300 charges, like phff 30 bench warrants n’they put me in an immigration prison…

Jeff Bierk: Holy fuck.

Melanie: …down in a, right above the Mason-Dixie line (laughs) It was a real prejudice place, and they were in the process of deporting me. So, I wound up being deported, and they just, I did some time down there in Rikers Island, and then in Philadelphia, n’then at the immigration prison, and they put me in a van, and they drove me and left me at the Peace Bridge (laughs) I’m from Vancouver. I never been here before in my life, you know? I was like oh thank you guys (laughs) Fuck off! …but ah, I actually was in the stree, stre, like in the streets since I was fourteen, and I never got high until I turned like 32… but I had some guy pick me up and he beat the shit outta me with a gun… and broke my nose, and my clavicle… fuckin’ I was just black n’ blue everywhere… and I started sniffing heroin… and that’s how I got started. I was into the heroin, for like, weeks. I was so fucked up, and hurting. I didn’t wanta go to the doctor cuz I had all these warrants… (coughs) So, I self medicated (laughs) …wound up from nodding off the heroin, I started smoking the crack. Kinda level it out.