Pictures of tears and laughter, fighting and reconciliation, solitude and community, these are the products of a year long documentation of three children and their mother who are living together after years of separation due to addiction and abuse.”Collapsing New People: drama of an American family scarred, scared, sacred” is a collection of candid photographs taken by photographer Roland Andes while he lived in New York City with Inger Mohr and her three children.”It is a story of recovery, courage, hope, friendship, love and yes, uncertainty,” Andes said.Originally brought on as a nanny to watch the children and serve as a tutor, Andes used the opportunity to document the family’s interaction. Between August of 1994 and August of 1995, Andes lived with Mohr and her children in their Washington Hts. apartment in New York City. While working side jobs to support himself while he was there, he picked up the kids at school, helped them with homework, made sure that they ate dinner together and set up a regimen for them to live by. The only stipulation being that he could shoot pictures at will. The children, Jessica, 12, Killian, 9, and Joe, 10, had been in foster care for over four years, sometimes together and sometimes apart, and had just recently been reunited with their mother who had been “incapacitated by cocaine,” Andes said. “They lost a big chunk of their childhood along with both their parents,” Andes said.Mohr feels a sense of loss and regret, but has hope for their future.”If I could change anything, I would change the pain that I’ve inflicted on my children,” Mohr said.What was supposed to be only a two week trip to help establish a schedule and some order in the household turned into more, as some new crisis would come up with one of the kids. The first year was an adjustment period, everyone had to get to know each other all over again.While creating the documentary, Andes was able to change some things for the better.”I was able to convince Mohr to stop spanking and we started time-outs,” Andes said. Through time-outs and talking, Andes worked to stop the children from reacting violently and encouraged them to feel remorse.The pictures in the exhibit span a range of situations that, according to Andes, were typical. There are pictures of Killian and Joe physically attacking each other on their bunk beds, with fists clenched and looks of anger on their young faces. A portrait of Jessica lying on Mohr’s chest shows the two making up, their eyes swollen from crying after an argument. Almost three years after the project was started, the family has made progress, Mohr and Andes said. The children say please and thank you now, the boys are more inclusive of Jessica and the fighting is less frequent. There is a portrait in the exhibit that shows Joe laughing with some of his schoolmates at a spring festival, both Joe and Killian are at the top of their classes in school and Jessica is slowly becoming more accustomed to trusting other people. Mohr hopes that the images in the exhibit will have an effect on people and make them think about children and what addiction and abusive behavior can do to their young lives.”There is hope and people should know that,” Mohr said. “We’re all children inside and children are beautiful. Life is beautiful.” “Collapsing New People” will open at the Roy G. Biv Gallery, 997 N. High St. in the Short North on Sept. 6. Admission is free and signed limited edition prints will be given for donations of $500 or more which will be put into the August Foundation, a trust fund available only to Jessica, Killian and Joe for education and health care. There will also be a benefit at Chelsies the night of the opening where those who wish to can contribute to the fund.