This Is Not A Life, It’s Just An Existence
John Bolloten

John Bolloten

First Edition 2024
Softcover
Offset mono printing
156 pages with 138 black+white photographs
198 x 297mm
Limited edition of 500 (250 available from Fistful of Books) including…
– 75 signed copies
– 30 boxed editions – contains signed book, signed zine (with 45 extra photographs) and signed A4 print

An exploration into homelessness, destitution and drug and alcohol misuse in Bradford, England.

I could write at length about the physical, mental and emotional challenges I faced while making this work but this book is not about me. It is about those at the very bottom of society often living very chaotic lives and dealing with drug and alcohol dependence, homelessness, various traumas and mental health issues.
JOHN BOLLOTEN

This is Not a Life, It’s Just an Existence gives us a shocking and often taboo glimpse into the day to day world of a group of people, who have been chronically and repeatedly let down by the social systems and safety nets which should have been there to help them. This book is incredibly important in showing the reality of their lived experience and the telling of their stories.
VICKI BEERE

John Bolloten pulls away the veil that separates “normal society” from the marginalised living in the abyss. In his book we are immersed in the daily life of Bradford’s outsiders; a brutal parallel world still screaming after a decade of cuts and austerity. He cares enough to show this shadow world without flinching but with love and empathy for the subjects who are at last given a voice.
BARRY LEWIS

John Bolloten’s work sits very firmly within the British social documentary tradition in its mixture of very hard-hitting visual documentation and allowing agency and the voices of those most affected to be heard.
MARK PINDER

John Bolloten shows us the margins of society, which society itself all too often tries to ignore. He does this with a persistence and straightness that may frighten some, but which makes him definitely one of the most important socially committed and contemporary photographers working today.
TOBY BINDER