I first met Gary and Maree in 2016 while I was taking photographs for my book Nothing To See Here. After that work was published, I was considering my next steps and decided that I wanted to do a more in-depth, personal and intimate view into the lives of people who used drugs.
I bumped into Gary one day about a year and a half after our first meeting and I asked if I could photograph him and Maree at home. He agreed and this work was born.
For eight months, between February and October 2018, I visited Gary and Maree weekly at their flat.
Gary is 44 years old and has been injecting heroin since he was 15. He and drinks a number of tins of strong Polish lager every day and sometimes smokes crack. Maree is 24 and doesn’t use heroin. She smokes crack and also drinks lager daily.
This book documents the times I was there and aims to give an insight into two lives, that like many other similar people, is hidden from public view.
"I fell in love with John Bolloten's Love Story at first sight. Bolloten, a talented and empathetic artist, has given us a terrific urban love story. John Bolloten's Love Story is a masterwork of photography with unparalleled depth and emotion." (Scot Sothern)
"An important, honest and unflinching reportage, Bolloten’s raw, real, claustrophobic and compelling album of intimacy and love, grips you by the eyeballs and doesn’t let go." (Peter Dench
"A bleak, brutal, and brilliant documentation of a couple living and loving on the edge of madness. It's cracking work, full of raw intensity and darkness. Bolloten at his best!" (Tom Stoddart)
"John Bolloten's Love Story is a menage à trois between two desperate people and their favourite drugs. John Bolloten's photos raise questions. He is an honest and uncompromising photographer exploring Bradford in the spirit of Don McCullin." (Miron Zownir)
"John’s images bring to life the smell, blood and chaos of two lives caught up in a cycle of love, hate and war." Zak Waters
"Love Story is a stark and brutal work but also, strangely uplifting. Bolloten has shown, once again, he is one Britain's most important documentary photographers." (Colin Wilkinson, Bluecoat Press)
"Bolloten’s hardest hitting, most intimate work yet. Where Bolloten’s images could so easily have felt voyeuristic and intrusive, the obvious affection he holds for his subjects and dedication to depicting their situation warts and all make them disquieting, disturbing and occasionally extremely touching." (Steve Lee. Big Issue in the North)
"While Love Story is uncomfortable to look at, its importance can not be understated. Projects like this teach us valuable lessons in understanding and empathising with those left languishing on the fringes of society." (Amy Davies, Amateur Photographer)
"A collection of photos of a troubled couple but you can sense the love between them. Some of the pictures are really tough, some are absolutely beautiful. You couldn’t be able to take those pictures without a deep trust between this couple and a photographer." (Katriina Etholén, Tales From The Brazier's Grotto).
Love Story
John Bolloten
72 pages
292 x 212mm
Numbered edition of 200
b/w digital printing
First 50 copies sold come with a 7×5 print.
Warning: Contains images of drug use and nudity.
The price is £8 with postage at £3 for the UK (total £11), £5 for Europe (total £13) and £7 for worldwide (total £15) and can be ordered through paypal to my email johnbolloten@yahoo.co.uk.
Please let me know if you would like your book signed. Thanks for the support.
(Please ignore below where it is says "buy this print online", the payment is for the book).
SOLD OUT.
