Spurred by her own financial hardship experiences, photographer Brittany Powell embarked on “The Debt Project,” a series of formal photo portraits of myriad Americans in debt accompanied by their handwritten debt stories and, eventually, audio interviews. Powell is hoping to complete the project with funding from a Kickstarter campaign.
For more background, see this Feature Shoot interview.
Above:
Debt Portrait #22, Portland, OR 2014
August Golden, 27 years old, non-profit care provider. I am currently about $30,000 in debt from a credit card used to pay for college in California. I have been paying this off slowly and likely will continue for a long time. Or maybe I’ll declare bankruptcy.
Debt Portrait #1, San Francisco, CA 2013
Danielle Brandon, Hair stylist, $12,324.00 in debt. In my early 20s, I got a credit card to “build credit.” They somehow gave me a $6,000 limit. At the time, I never had money to pay bills and eat, so I decided to buy some new clothes. Why not? Soon that avalanched until I could not pay off my debt at the end of the month. Dental bills, care repair, plane tickets, at times even groceries and gas were put on the card. No matter how I try to chip away, I can never seem to get out from under it. Even though I live a frugal life.
Support “The Debt Project” (Kickstarter)