Open Category: Photojournalism / Story (AMATEUR) - HONORABLE MENTION
It Is What It Is
Photo © Jordan Gale
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I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the only child to a single mother who since before I
was born has struggled with a combination of drug abuse and poverty. When I was nine, our
house was raided by the police on the suspicion that drugs were sold there. After this incident,
we were forced to move and my mother attempted to overcome her addiction to methamphetamine. For several months, she slept most of the day, forcing me to partially raise myself. I always assured my mother that her addiction was never a source of shame or resentment, but this promise became more and more a lie as time went on.
My mother never quit, and in high school I acquired my own dependencies to drugs as means to escape. In retrospect, I now accept that I was angry, and wanted to be anywhere besides in my own reality. I resented my mother's addiction and my own place in the world.
It Is What It Is acts as a form of therapy. A visual diary where I confront ideas such as resentment, regret, as well as the people and decisions of my past. I look at my relationship with substance abuse, as well as its effect on those around me. Stagnancy and fear create a mold and some friends and family close to my heart blissfully lay in this mold forever. I was lucky; for many this cycle is never broken. By photographing the people and scenes most familiar to me I can begin to accept that these scenes are an aspect of the world. One fact I've learned that I hold close is that, I'm in no way content at the moment. But, I am proud of where I come from.
Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gale moved to Iowa City to study photography in 2014. Since then he has gone on to work with local news outlets and creates intimate personal projects documenting the lives of those closest to him still living in Cedar Rapids and neighboring communities. Gale's work often highlights scenes of poverty, drug abuse, as well as the temporality of humanity and the communities people inhabit. Jordan's work has been awarded by The Iowa Press Association, and has been nominated for a 2017 Lucie Award.
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I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the only child to a single mother who since before I
was born has struggled with a combination of drug abuse and poverty. When I was nine, our
house was raided by the police on the suspicion that drugs were sold there. After this incident,
we were forced to move and my mother attempted to overcome her addiction to methamphetamine. For several months, she slept most of the day, forcing me to partially raise myself. I always assured my mother that her addiction was never a source of shame or resentment, but this promise became more and more a lie as time went on.
My mother never quit, and in high school I acquired my own dependencies to drugs as means to escape. In retrospect, I now accept that I was angry, and wanted to be anywhere besides in my own reality. I resented my mother's addiction and my own place in the world.
It Is What It Is acts as a form of therapy. A visual diary where I confront ideas such as resentment, regret, as well as the people and decisions of my past. I look at my relationship with substance abuse, as well as its effect on those around me. Stagnancy and fear create a mold and some friends and family close to my heart blissfully lay in this mold forever. I was lucky; for many this cycle is never broken. By photographing the people and scenes most familiar to me I can begin to accept that these scenes are an aspect of the world. One fact I've learned that I hold close is that, I'm in no way content at the moment. But, I am proud of where I come from.
About author:
Jordan Gale is an Iowa-based photographer and undergraduate student at The University of Iowa pursuing his BFA in photography.Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gale moved to Iowa City to study photography in 2014. Since then he has gone on to work with local news outlets and creates intimate personal projects documenting the lives of those closest to him still living in Cedar Rapids and neighboring communities. Gale's work often highlights scenes of poverty, drug abuse, as well as the temporality of humanity and the communities people inhabit. Jordan's work has been awarded by The Iowa Press Association, and has been nominated for a 2017 Lucie Award.
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