Photographer: H Fruchtman for the Health of Philadelphia Photo-Documentation Project.
About The Photograph
The city's widespread devastation has proven fertile ground for violence. One in ten Philadelphians will be shot at some point in their lives, according to the Firearm Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Not surprisingly, our participants often spoke about the proximity of violence. It shapes their lives and undermines their health.
That was the glory of the streets. Like you see the people who do these things and they have stuff, stuff that you want, cars, money....You know, you kind of idolized the bad guy....One of my friends got killed so that was when I saw it, that's not what I wanted to be a part of...He was just a victim of circumstances. He was just around in a place where things were going on and he just got shot. And not only that, the reason why he got shot is because one of the guys that we looked up to, they both were running in the house. And the older guy pushed him back out and he ran in the house and my friend was shot in the head.
-Health of Philadelphia Participant
