“The Ninth Floor” by Jessica Dimmock
©Jessica Dimmock, from “The Ninth Floor”
Last year, Jessica Dimmock received the Inge Morath Award for her photo documentary ‘The Ninth Floor’ about several people in a New York apartment living with drug addiction. This work made it into a book that was selected by PDN as one of the best photobooks of 2007 (article in New York Magazine and PopPhoto).
I was studying at the International Center of Photography at the time. I was on the street fiddling with a digital camera because as of then I had not used one before. I was approached by a cocaine dealer who made it clear that he was a dealer. Over the course of the conversation he made it clear that if I wanted to follow him and photograph him I could. He took me to a variety of places - parties, people’s apartments, the owner of an escort service. The last place he ever took me was the apartment where the project starts. He was arrested shortly thereafter, and I have never seen him since, despite trying to find him. But because he brought me to this apartment and made the initial introduction I went back with prints from my first visit. After that, and some slow starts, I was allowed to return at any time.- Jessica Dimmock
©Jessica Dimmock, from “The Ninth Floor”
Over at 5b4, Mr. Whiskets, has a very interesting post about this book and Jessica’s work. This article prompted me to go and take a look at her website and the images from this series. Be ready. The pictures get to your gut, this is raw material indeed. If looking at the images is frightening I can only think about the feelings of Jessica while taking the pictures. Quite an amazing challenge and a piece of work that no wonder has made it into a top photobook of the year. If you browse her galleries, you will notice that Jessica has an special talent, this is photojournalism but with a particular twist, it gets to your gut and soul with fierce feelings, and stays there perhaps way too long.
©Jessica Dimmock, from “The Ninth Floor”
Dimmock’s pictures are devoid of the tell tale language usually spoken by photojournalists. This may be because Dimmock was still a student when she started her project and thankfully she had not been poisoned by too many references to the likes of other journalists or documentarians. She seems to be responding quickly to the happenings and that directness, without pretentious ‘picture-making,’ is her strength.
I have raised the question before of who the audience is for books of this sort. Not that I think the work should be hidden, a book is a natural and perfect vehicle, but it is a world that I do not wish to participate in even voyeuristically. Because of Dimmock I have been given a taste of life on the ninth floor of 4 West 22nd street and I have found it bitter and so nauseating that I have permanently shut the door. - 5b4, Mr. Whiskets
©Jessica Dimmock, from “The Ninth Floor”
The apartment could be a very awful place to spend time in. It was hard to put the time in and to know when to stay or when to go. Sometimes I spent the night, or several days on end. That could be very difficult and very claustrophobic, but it was an important component to my understanding of what was going on. And at this point I have spent a great deal of time with some of the people from this project and I care about them a great deal. I recognize that I cannot change them, nor save them, but they have been incredibly open with me and there is a lot of trust in our relationship. It is hard to watch these patterns get repeated and to watch the pain that occurs.-Jessica Dimmock
©Jessica Dimmock, from “The Ninth Floor”
