2012 Photo Contest, Daily Life, Honorable Mention stories

Jason & Elyssa

Photographer

Darcy Padilla

Redux Pictures

26 April, 2011

Jason smokes marijuana for its medicinal properties, saying it helps him to cope with anxiety.

About the photographer

Darcy Padilla

Darcy Padilla is a photojournalist and documentary photographer living in San Francisco, California. Her awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Awar...

Background story

Alaska, USA

Jason smokes marijuana for its medicinal properties, saying it helps him to cope with anxiety. Jason raises his daughter Elyssa as a single parent, after his partner Julie died of Aids-related illnesses in 2010. Jason and Julie had four children together, but three were taken into social care. Jason, who is also HIV positive, moved with Julie to Alaska in 2005. After Julie died, he continued living there in a home with no electricity or running water, 30 kilometers from the nearest town. In November 2011, Jason moved with Elyssa to Portland, Oregon, having reunited with his family, from whom he had been estranged for 16 years.

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