http://www.darcypadilla.com/thejulieproject/2010.html
17 years in the making, this unique and award-winning documentary follows the life of one woman, Julie Baird. The story begins in 1993, when Darcy meets an 19 year-old runaway with a newborn in her arms in the lobby of an SRO in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. Over the years Darcy has photographed Julie’s complex story of AIDS, multiple homes, relationships, drugs, poverty, births, deaths, loss and reunion. Following Julie from the backstreets of San Francisco to the backwoods of Alaska.
Photographer: Darcy Padilla
Project Title: "The Julie Project"
I first met Julie on February 28, 1993. She stood in the lobby of the Ambassador Hotel, barefoot, pants unzipped and an eight day-old infant in her arms. She lived in San Francisco’s SRO district, a neighborhood of soup kitchens and cheap rooms. Her room was piled with clothes, over flowing ashtrays and trash. At the time she was living with Jack, father of her first baby, Rachel. Jack had given her AIDS and she left him months later to stop using drugs.
Julie’s first memory of her mother was getting drunk with her at six years old and then being sexually abused by her stepfather. She was a runaway at 14, and became drug addict at 15 living in alleys, crack dens and bunking with more dirty old men than she cared to count.
Over the last 17 years I have photographed Julie’s complex story of multiple homes, AIDS, abusive relationships, drug abuse and poverty.
By 2003, Julie had given birth to five children: Rachel, Tommy, Jordan, Ryan and Jason Jr. All were taken from her by the State of California. She had “stolen” one newborn from the hospital so he wouldn't be taken from her after she had tested positive for drugs. The incident cost Julie and Jason, her partner, time in jail.
In 2005 during a Google search, I saw a posting looking for “Julie Baird: 10-10-73” and called the number. It turned out to be Julie’s father (whom she had never known) looking for her. Months later, Julie and Jason were living with him. She was born in Alaska and lived there until her 17-year-old mother stole her away after a fight with her father. Her father, Bill spent 31 years looking for her. After reuniting, they had a year together before he died of a heart attack.
In 2007 I received a call from the adoptive mother of Julie’s fifth child who was taken at birth. “Zach” (Jason Jr.’s adopted name) is the first of Julie’s children to find her. After meeting Zach, Julie said, “part of me wanted him to be miserable… to where he wanted his birth mom back, and he is happy …that makes me so happy…part of me wanted him not to be…I feel like she is doing a better job than I ever could of… it makes me happy but it also crushes me.”
In 2008, Julie gave birth to her sixth child, Elyssa. She intends to keep Elyssa and raise her with her partner in their latest home in “the bush” - no running water or electricity and 20 miles from the nearest town. She is too weak to carry Elyssa, Julie’s AIDS has progressed significantly and even standing has become a struggle.
The purpose of my project was – and is – to take disparate arguments about welfare, poverty, family rights, AIDS and substance abuse and personalize them by detailing the life of one person. Julie’s story provides us with window into a community that is difficult for most of us to imagine. My hope is that the Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography will further this project, not only help us to understand her life, but also for her children, Rachel, Tommy, Jordan, Ryan, Zach and Elyssa to know the truth about it, one day.
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