All Photographs + Text Copyright 2024 Christopher Keeley
Addict
Out of the Dark
and into the Light
1988 - 2014 Chris Keeley
The Recovery Revolution
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Book Review
ADDICT: Out of the Dark and Into the Light
By Christopher Keeley
Beaux Arts, 365 pages. Limited printing.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(The Charleston Gazette)
The Recovery Revolution
Chronicling 51 heroes that conquered themselves
By James A. Haught
Gazette Editor
July 11, 1994
There's something heroic about people who win victories over
themselves. It takes courage and character to defeat your own worst
qualities.
This book has 51 such heroes drug-heads who sickened of life in a
stupor, and pulled themselves up to sobriety. They may be battered and
scarred, but they deserve respect.
The publisher, Bo Sewell, says the book is about "the recovery
revolution that is going on...in the underground culture of drug
addiction." He says, correctly, that most Americans see addicts "as
non-persons rather than human beings who have a disease over which they
have no control."
The author, a Washington photographer and drug counselor, makes the
subjects human in two ways: through intensely personal photos, some in
the nude, and by letting the ex-addicts tell their own stories in a
stream-of-consciousness flow.
Typical is Trayceous Klein, a lovely young brunette who was an
abandoned child and grew up with drunken foster parents. She's so
intelligent she skipped two grades in school, yet plunged into alcohol
and pills, then hard narcotics. Although she was an honor student with
scholarships waiting, she dropped out of school and lived in the
chaotic, nomadic twilight of the stoned. "I completely prostituted
myself to have a constant supply of drugs."
Finally, feeling utterly worthless, she attempted suicide, but was
revived in a hospital and forced into treatment. "All of a sudden one
day, something just clicked in my head and I said, �Geez, you know what?
You've like wasted your entire life and maybe it's time to do something,
change something, have a future.'"
She did it. She lived clean, gained self-respect, and got a good job
with an insurance firm. She celebrates her "birthday" on the anniversary
of the day she quit.
Other biographies in the book are different, yet they're all tales of
doomed people mustering enough strength to take control of themselves.
Most of the recoverees are white. America's new wave of young black
"crack" addicts isn't represented yet the book implies that they, too,
can salvage their lives.
The book shuns the Narcotics Anonymous approach of confidentiality.
Author-photographer Keeley says he asked the subjects to reveal
themselves publicly. "When I explained why I was so enthusiastic about
the book, that I wanted to get the message out that any addict could
stay clean in this non-anonymous fashion, they expressed spontaneous
gratitude."
Publisher Sewell adds:
"Addicts began getting the message in large numbers a brief 14 years
ago. A significant population of clean addicts living free from active
addiction has grown up largely unnoticed and unannounced."
That's heartening. Despite its dismal topic, the book is uplifting.
Keeley grew up all over the world in a foreign service family. After
graduating from the Corcoran School of Art, he hatched the concept of
the book. His father, Robert Keeley, retired ambassador to Greece who
now heads the Mid-East Institute, edited it from his son's handwritten
transcripts. The photos in the book have been exhibited at the Pierides
Gallery in Greece and have appeared in the International Herald Tribune
published in Paris.
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
Hardback ISBN:
1-4257-7889-5
Hardback ISBN 13:
978-1-4257-7889-7
Order the Book : Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
- Book page:
- Author page:
http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=39928
Hardback ISBN: 1-4257-7889-5
Hardback ISBN 13: 978-1-4257-7889-7
Picture Book - Softcover $48.99
Picture Book - Hardcover $58.99
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the copyright owner.
To order additional copies of this book, contact:
Xlibris Corporation
1-888-795-4274
www.Xlibris.com
Orders@Xlibris.com
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
by Christopher Keeley
ISBN13: 978-1-4257-7887-3 (Picture Book)
ISBN: 1-4257-7887-9 (Picture Book)
Pages: 160
Subject: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General
Book Format: Portrait 8.5 x 11
Reading Level: 8 - 12
Age Level: 0 - 99
Availability
Picture Book $48.99
- Addict Review
Description
I wanted to get the message out that any addict could get clean; stop using drugs and find a new way to live. Most every one was enthusiastic. I asked them to share about the horrors of their life and how wonderful their lives are today. In the spirit of recovery each contributor exemplified this selfless effort of helping other addicts find and achieve recovery. Each participant responded because they wanted to help and be a part of the solution rather than the problem. They understood that what they were doing would help alleviate the pain and suffering of addicts and those close to addicts by being exposed to this work. My motive was to bring to light the love and truth about the feelings of addicts and the recovery revolution that is going on right now. Christopher Keeley
Keeley´s photographs, which deal with the many facets of obsession, speak to the internal search many individuals undergo during the lifelong quest for meaning and self-awareness.
Capturing pain, longing, torment, despair, hope, and love within the faces and forms of his images, Keeley draws on his own inner obsessive quest for knowledge as inspiration.
His images are unsympathetic, and communicate the inner emotional trauma of the homeless, the addicted, and of the lonely, as well as pride and the strength of human bonding experienced by addicts in recovery. By revealing the essence of his subjects, the works magnify with often unsettling clarity the pain of discovery, joy of friendships born of pain, or turmoil of new journeys that resound within each person. Through these poignant images he challenges the viewer to look within one´s own heart, to question, affirm, accept, or reject, leaving one with valuable insights into our own places in humanity. Kimberley Taylor
Chris Keeley is a friend of mine. I have always looked to Chris as having the inclination and courage to capture his unique perception of reality with the shutter of his camera. Somehow, he goes ahead and does it. In 1987 when this work of art was started, I heard of this book from the years it took Chris to put it together. In my own experience, I had an interest in encouraging and helping bring to light the love and truth about the feelings of addicts and the recovery revolution that is going on right now. There is a genuine movement in the underground culture of drug addiction towards health, recovery and spiritual growth. Chris went to each person participating in this work and asked if they would help. Each one responded because they wanted to help.
Initially, the photos in this book were to be exclusively nudes for the shock value and to set the reader in the intimate, touching frame of mind required to reach with the heart as well as the mind. Some of the participants balked at this and so allowances were made and Chris decided that even the form of having all subjects nude would just be another conformity.
There is no final answer to addiction. With time a human being learns how much of life is real and how much is supposition. Personal truth at the level of daily living is the way out of this labyrinth. A snapshot can contain unintended truth. This book is a collection of photographic snapshots, along with written snapshots are in the form of verbatim transcripts. The participants were taped at the same time the photos were taken. The resulting composition is a picture at odds with prevailing perspectives on addiction and towards addicts.
The darkness is the overlay of myth, fear and superstition that surround addicts and their disease. Addiction is the disease of lies hiding in darkness that allows the simple elements of need, deprivation and extremism to build and combine into seemingly insolvable obstacles. The truth is much simpler.
The dark is a place of fear in much of the world. It symbolizes the unknown and the unknowable. The myths about addiction enjoy great power where there is no way to verify stated facts or unstated assumptions. Addicts shot fleeing police or dead of overdose are most often viewed as non-persons rather than human beings who have a disease over which they have no control. The darkness is in this regard: people lack information they can react to as free open human beings. While individuals will almost always readily admit to this lack of information about addiction, there is another assumption that someone, somewhere, investigates the subject factually and methodically, bringing to light useful information. This information would help alleviate the pain and suffering of addicts and those close to addicts. Any life limiting or life-threatening element of human existence comes under this sort of scrutiny, the more the better. Let this book be one more resource. ADDICT out of the dark and into the light lets the reader take his or her own look. We are certain these stories will remind you of addicts you already know. You may be surprised as you read through these stories how much the dark has enlarged some facts and obscured others. This is not a lack of compassion or interest on the part of non-addicts. Most addicts freely admit to playing games designed to distract and mislead observers. It is part of the addictive malaise.
While some stories invite compassion, we know that compassion alone will not give understanding. This book will brush off some of the layers of ignorance and mystique from the subject. Humanity needs to get on with it. Addiction is a disease that eats up anything of value in a person´s life and then kills them. It lies, hides behind ten thousand games, thrives on intrigues, and makes fortunes going and coming. After a slow reading of this book, we hope addicts will never again be as pitiful or as fearsome again. The dark hides the fact that addicts are people - people with a disease over which they have no more control than a leper.
These stories bring into the light a great anonymous revolution that has been going on for more than seventy years. Addicts began getting the message in large numbers a brief twenty-four years ago. A significant population of clean addicts living free from active addiction has grown up largely unnoticed and unannounced. Some of the aspects of the disease of addiction have been turned to useful ends by redirection. These addicts obsessively go to meetings and seek out recovery. Anything that can help them go beyond former boundaries and live happier lives is applied and shared. These individuals have no more in common than their addiction and their desire for recovery. Individuals recover at their own rate and progress is the attainable goal of ongoing recovery. It matters more where they are going than where they have been. Their obsession to use is switched over to a compulsion to stay clean. As long as they are clean, they have won another days victory over their obsession to use. Total abstinence is the most conspicuous evidence of sweeping personality change. These addicts couldn´t ´just say no.´ This simple way of life cuts across all boundaries of age, race, color, creed, religion or lack of religion. While we are great respecters of anonymity, this story should not go entirely untold. It is time to come "out of the dark and into the light."
From the beginning, this work has been blessed with special people who helped the idea become a reality. We are grateful to all these people. We have to start with the contributors. Their selflessness exemplifies the spirit of recovery among addicts today. Chris has been primarily motivated to help others. His Father, Ambassador Keeley helped by editing all the original handwritten transcripts. The origins of this book lie in the special range of interests of the author and photographer. Chris has assembled a rare and important look into the world of addiction with the special emphasis on the fact that addicts are learning to live clean.
Each contributor has done so with the intent of helping just one other addict find and achieve recovery. The range of contributors includes young and old, white and black, street addicts, prescription addicts and famous addicts. Some have been clean a short time, others for years. A special awareness of addicts as human beings emerges through reading these stories; a fresh look into the real world of addiction today.
The photographs from this collection have appeared in the Fifth Column in Washington, D.C., the International Herald Tribune in Paris, France, and the Pierides Foundation Museum and Gallery in Athens, Greece. All are available on request from the author. Nothing has been done to deprive the reader his or her opportunity to react to the content and information contained in these stories directly and personally. This presents addiction with unusual clarity and focus. Read this book the way you would listen to someone you knew.
Bo Sewell
February 7, 1994
Chapters
1 Trayceous
2 Pepe
3 Penelope
4 Heather
5 Rachel
6 Jill
7 Merideth
8 Ron
9 Scott
10 Annette
11 Danielle
12 Willie
13 Tom
14 Dee Dee
15 David
16 Pascale
17 Marc
18 Michelle
19 Roger
20 Ivan
21 Bob
22 Maria
23 Lou
24 Bob
25 Stephen
Photographic Memories - Arts - Washington City Paper
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
Send me email!
Return to Intervention Organization
All Photographs + Text Copyright 2024 Christopher Keeley
Addict
Out of the Dark
and into the Light
1988 - 2014 Chris Keeley
The Recovery Revolution
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Book Review
ADDICT: Out of the Dark and Into the Light
By Christopher Keeley
Beaux Arts, 365 pages. Limited printing.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(The Charleston Gazette)
The Recovery Revolution
Chronicling 51 heroes that conquered themselves
By James A. Haught
Gazette Editor
July 11, 1994
There's something heroic about people who win victories over
themselves. It takes courage and character to defeat your own worst
qualities.
This book has 51 such heroes drug-heads who sickened of life in a
stupor, and pulled themselves up to sobriety. They may be battered and
scarred, but they deserve respect.
The publisher, Bo Sewell, says the book is about "the recovery
revolution that is going on...in the underground culture of drug
addiction." He says, correctly, that most Americans see addicts "as
non-persons rather than human beings who have a disease over which they
have no control."
The author, a Washington photographer and drug counselor, makes the
subjects human in two ways: through intensely personal photos, some in
the nude, and by letting the ex-addicts tell their own stories in a
stream-of-consciousness flow.
Typical is Trayceous Klein, a lovely young brunette who was an
abandoned child and grew up with drunken foster parents. She's so
intelligent she skipped two grades in school, yet plunged into alcohol
and pills, then hard narcotics. Although she was an honor student with
scholarships waiting, she dropped out of school and lived in the
chaotic, nomadic twilight of the stoned. "I completely prostituted
myself to have a constant supply of drugs."
Finally, feeling utterly worthless, she attempted suicide, but was
revived in a hospital and forced into treatment. "All of a sudden one
day, something just clicked in my head and I said, �Geez, you know what?
You've like wasted your entire life and maybe it's time to do something,
change something, have a future.'"
She did it. She lived clean, gained self-respect, and got a good job
with an insurance firm. She celebrates her "birthday" on the anniversary
of the day she quit.
Other biographies in the book are different, yet they're all tales of
doomed people mustering enough strength to take control of themselves.
Most of the recoverees are white. America's new wave of young black
"crack" addicts isn't represented yet the book implies that they, too,
can salvage their lives.
The book shuns the Narcotics Anonymous approach of confidentiality.
Author-photographer Keeley says he asked the subjects to reveal
themselves publicly. "When I explained why I was so enthusiastic about
the book, that I wanted to get the message out that any addict could
stay clean in this non-anonymous fashion, they expressed spontaneous
gratitude."
Publisher Sewell adds:
"Addicts began getting the message in large numbers a brief 14 years
ago. A significant population of clean addicts living free from active
addiction has grown up largely unnoticed and unannounced."
That's heartening. Despite its dismal topic, the book is uplifting.
Keeley grew up all over the world in a foreign service family. After
graduating from the Corcoran School of Art, he hatched the concept of
the book. His father, Robert Keeley, retired ambassador to Greece who
now heads the Mid-East Institute, edited it from his son's handwritten
transcripts. The photos in the book have been exhibited at the Pierides
Gallery in Greece and have appeared in the International Herald Tribune
published in Paris.
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
Hardback ISBN:
1-4257-7889-5
Hardback ISBN 13:
978-1-4257-7889-7
Order the Book : Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=39928
Hardback ISBN: 1-4257-7889-5
Hardback ISBN 13: 978-1-4257-7889-7
Picture Book - Softcover $48.99
Picture Book - Hardcover $58.99
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
To order additional copies of this book, contact:
Xlibris Corporation 1-888-795-4274
www.Xlibris.com
Orders@Xlibris.com
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
by Christopher Keeley
ISBN13: 978-1-4257-7887-3 (Picture Book)
ISBN: 1-4257-7887-9 (Picture Book)
Pages: 160
Subject: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General
Book Format: Portrait 8.5 x 11
Reading Level: 8 - 12
Age Level: 0 - 99
Availability
Picture Book $48.99
Description
I wanted to get the message out that any addict could get clean; stop using drugs and find a new way to live. Most every one was enthusiastic. I asked them to share about the horrors of their life and how wonderful their lives are today. In the spirit of recovery each contributor exemplified this selfless effort of helping other addicts find and achieve recovery. Each participant responded because they wanted to help and be a part of the solution rather than the problem. They understood that what they were doing would help alleviate the pain and suffering of addicts and those close to addicts by being exposed to this work. My motive was to bring to light the love and truth about the feelings of addicts and the recovery revolution that is going on right now. Christopher Keeley
Keeley´s photographs, which deal with the many facets of obsession, speak to the internal search many individuals undergo during the lifelong quest for meaning and self-awareness.
Capturing pain, longing, torment, despair, hope, and love within the faces and forms of his images, Keeley draws on his own inner obsessive quest for knowledge as inspiration.
His images are unsympathetic, and communicate the inner emotional trauma of the homeless, the addicted, and of the lonely, as well as pride and the strength of human bonding experienced by addicts in recovery. By revealing the essence of his subjects, the works magnify with often unsettling clarity the pain of discovery, joy of friendships born of pain, or turmoil of new journeys that resound within each person. Through these poignant images he challenges the viewer to look within one´s own heart, to question, affirm, accept, or reject, leaving one with valuable insights into our own places in humanity. Kimberley Taylor
Chris Keeley is a friend of mine. I have always looked to Chris as having the inclination and courage to capture his unique perception of reality with the shutter of his camera. Somehow, he goes ahead and does it. In 1987 when this work of art was started, I heard of this book from the years it took Chris to put it together. In my own experience, I had an interest in encouraging and helping bring to light the love and truth about the feelings of addicts and the recovery revolution that is going on right now. There is a genuine movement in the underground culture of drug addiction towards health, recovery and spiritual growth. Chris went to each person participating in this work and asked if they would help. Each one responded because they wanted to help.
Initially, the photos in this book were to be exclusively nudes for the shock value and to set the reader in the intimate, touching frame of mind required to reach with the heart as well as the mind. Some of the participants balked at this and so allowances were made and Chris decided that even the form of having all subjects nude would just be another conformity.
There is no final answer to addiction. With time a human being learns how much of life is real and how much is supposition. Personal truth at the level of daily living is the way out of this labyrinth. A snapshot can contain unintended truth. This book is a collection of photographic snapshots, along with written snapshots are in the form of verbatim transcripts. The participants were taped at the same time the photos were taken. The resulting composition is a picture at odds with prevailing perspectives on addiction and towards addicts.
The darkness is the overlay of myth, fear and superstition that surround addicts and their disease. Addiction is the disease of lies hiding in darkness that allows the simple elements of need, deprivation and extremism to build and combine into seemingly insolvable obstacles. The truth is much simpler.
The dark is a place of fear in much of the world. It symbolizes the unknown and the unknowable. The myths about addiction enjoy great power where there is no way to verify stated facts or unstated assumptions. Addicts shot fleeing police or dead of overdose are most often viewed as non-persons rather than human beings who have a disease over which they have no control. The darkness is in this regard: people lack information they can react to as free open human beings. While individuals will almost always readily admit to this lack of information about addiction, there is another assumption that someone, somewhere, investigates the subject factually and methodically, bringing to light useful information. This information would help alleviate the pain and suffering of addicts and those close to addicts. Any life limiting or life-threatening element of human existence comes under this sort of scrutiny, the more the better. Let this book be one more resource. ADDICT out of the dark and into the light lets the reader take his or her own look. We are certain these stories will remind you of addicts you already know. You may be surprised as you read through these stories how much the dark has enlarged some facts and obscured others. This is not a lack of compassion or interest on the part of non-addicts. Most addicts freely admit to playing games designed to distract and mislead observers. It is part of the addictive malaise.
While some stories invite compassion, we know that compassion alone will not give understanding. This book will brush off some of the layers of ignorance and mystique from the subject. Humanity needs to get on with it. Addiction is a disease that eats up anything of value in a person´s life and then kills them. It lies, hides behind ten thousand games, thrives on intrigues, and makes fortunes going and coming. After a slow reading of this book, we hope addicts will never again be as pitiful or as fearsome again. The dark hides the fact that addicts are people - people with a disease over which they have no more control than a leper.
These stories bring into the light a great anonymous revolution that has been going on for more than seventy years. Addicts began getting the message in large numbers a brief twenty-four years ago. A significant population of clean addicts living free from active addiction has grown up largely unnoticed and unannounced. Some of the aspects of the disease of addiction have been turned to useful ends by redirection. These addicts obsessively go to meetings and seek out recovery. Anything that can help them go beyond former boundaries and live happier lives is applied and shared. These individuals have no more in common than their addiction and their desire for recovery. Individuals recover at their own rate and progress is the attainable goal of ongoing recovery. It matters more where they are going than where they have been. Their obsession to use is switched over to a compulsion to stay clean. As long as they are clean, they have won another days victory over their obsession to use. Total abstinence is the most conspicuous evidence of sweeping personality change. These addicts couldn´t ´just say no.´ This simple way of life cuts across all boundaries of age, race, color, creed, religion or lack of religion. While we are great respecters of anonymity, this story should not go entirely untold. It is time to come "out of the dark and into the light."
From the beginning, this work has been blessed with special people who helped the idea become a reality. We are grateful to all these people. We have to start with the contributors. Their selflessness exemplifies the spirit of recovery among addicts today. Chris has been primarily motivated to help others. His Father, Ambassador Keeley helped by editing all the original handwritten transcripts. The origins of this book lie in the special range of interests of the author and photographer. Chris has assembled a rare and important look into the world of addiction with the special emphasis on the fact that addicts are learning to live clean.
Each contributor has done so with the intent of helping just one other addict find and achieve recovery. The range of contributors includes young and old, white and black, street addicts, prescription addicts and famous addicts. Some have been clean a short time, others for years. A special awareness of addicts as human beings emerges through reading these stories; a fresh look into the real world of addiction today.
The photographs from this collection have appeared in the Fifth Column in Washington, D.C., the International Herald Tribune in Paris, France, and the Pierides Foundation Museum and Gallery in Athens, Greece. All are available on request from the author. Nothing has been done to deprive the reader his or her opportunity to react to the content and information contained in these stories directly and personally. This presents addiction with unusual clarity and focus. Read this book the way you would listen to someone you knew.
Bo Sewell
February 7, 1994
Chapters
1 Trayceous
2 Pepe
3 Penelope
4 Heather
5 Rachel
6 Jill
7 Merideth
8 Ron
9 Scott
10 Annette
11 Danielle
12 Willie
13 Tom
14 Dee Dee
15 David
16 Pascale
17 Marc
18 Michelle
19 Roger
20 Ivan
21 Bob
22 Maria
23 Lou
24 Bob
25 Stephen
Photographic Memories - Arts - Washington City Paper
Addict Out of the Dark and into the Light
Send me email!
Return to Intervention Organization