Jim Goldberg

When asked to name her favorite book, Emmanuelle Alt chose Raised by Wolves by Jim Goldberg, a heartwrenching work that captures the real lives of homeless teenagers on the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Published by Scalo in 1997, Raised by Wolves uses photos, film stills, handwritten documents, and found materials to tell the stark and unflinching story of adolescent runaways and the culture surrounding them. Goldberg spent six years interviewing and photographing teens, parents, teachers, social workers, and police to compose this moving picture of life on the streets. The author allows his subjects to express their feelings about themselves, providing an authentic and poignant perspective on the suffering of the homeless and giving his work an enormous amount of power. As Goldberg notes, "I have the great privilege of being both witness and storyteller. Intimacy, trust and intuition guide my work."  The title of the book is taken from a lyric by one of his subjects, Tweeky Dave: "Born a wicked child / raised by wolves / A screamin kamakazi / I never will crash." View this video for a glimpse of the interior pages of Raised by Wolves. Thank you, Emmanuelle, for calling my attention to this important work.

Raised by Wolves images courtesy of wirtzgallery.com and class.uidaho.edu