Jessica Dimmock - “The Ninth Floor”

Jessica Dimmock´s work is a MUST SEE and a MUST TO KNOW ABOUT.
The young photographer Jessica Dimmock became famous for her photo-documentary “The Ninth Floor” - a disturbing portrait of a group of young herion addicts living in a ninth-floor apartment in Manhattan, New York. The series is shown until june 1st in Foam gallery in Amsterdam. For those who won´t make it there, have a look on Jessica Dimmock´s page.

I know, the project has really nothing to do with the “contemporary fashion thing” what´s wrong with the zoo is usually about. BUT, it´s not only a “one of a kind” photo-projects, it´s also worth to be mentioned. Again and again and again.
The theme is actual and will probably always be. Beside the theme it´s the way, Dimmock watches people, i like. Catching them in very private situations, living, fighting, dreaming, on turkey, stoned, loving, desperated, happy… Dimmock shows the multiple facets and of the main characters, she gives us a deep visual insight in their personal life without altering, without judging.

“Foam presents an exhibition of work by the young American photographer Jessica Dimmock (b. 1978). In 2006 in Milan she won the first F Award for socially-engaged photography for her series entitled The Ninth Floor. Dimmock takes a disconcertingly close view of her subject, at the same time sympathetic and ruthless. The result is a series that centres on human emotions, in which despair makes way for anger, reconciliation and then bliss in quick tempo. In addition to The Ninth Floor the show also features a short film about this project, including interviews and video recordings.
Jessica Dimmock charted the lives of the people living in this ninth-floor flat in Manhattan apartment for almost three years. They are addicts, whose everyday lives are filled with buying and selling drugs, sleeping, rowing and sex.
When she was a child, Dimmock’s father also wrestled with drug addiction. Her sense of recognition gave her a special connection with this lonely, isolated community. Dimmock focused on the emotional and social side of their life. The result is a series of intense and innovative images with an intimate and simultaneously unpolished feel.
One influence on Dimmock’s work is film. Her cinematic sense is clearly evident in the way she portrays the space in the apartment. The minimal and often stratified lighting accentuates the sense of unease that The Ninth Floor exudes. Dimmock shot her pictures using only the lighting in the flat: the light of the television screen or a mobile phone.
The tragic intimacy of The Ninth Floor leaves the viewer with a mixture of emotions.
Jessica Dimmock (b. 1978) lives in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated in 2005 at the International Center of Photography (ICP) following a Bachelor in Sociology and Anthropology in 2000 and a Master in Educational Studies. Between 2000 and 2004 she worked as a teacher at a secondary school and on educational programmes for homeless children.
In 2006, The Ninth Floor won both Magnum Photos’ Inge Morath Prize, the Marty Forsher Fellowship for Humanistic Photography of PDN/Parsons. With this series Dimmock also won the first edition of the prestigious F Award. This International Award for concerned photography was created by Fabrica, the communication Research Center of Benetton Group and Forma, Centro Internazionale di Fotografia of Milano – created by Fondazione della Sera and Contrasto.
She has published in Aperture, The New York Times Magazine, Time, Fortune, Newsweek, New York Magazine and Fade.
The exhibition is a Forma production.
The book The Ninth Floor is published by Contrasto (2007).” (Text from artnews.org)

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