Ryan Strand

Camden Backwoods
Camden New Jersey is one of the most impoverished cities in the United States, two of every three residents fall below the poverty line.Off of New Jersey's Route 30 there is a homeless encampment community of over 35 people. In this self governed encampment there are a set of rules and regulations required to stay.The residents have created an immaterial utopia, where social normatives are irrelevant.

In 2010, I began a photographic project with my primary focus on the individuals in the community. A humanistic point of view is used to tell the story of each person photographed. Throughout each of their difficult stories lies conflict with addiction, health, hunger, racism, and violence. The message conveyed through these stories is the struggle of human existence.