
They are Americans from all walks of life and every corner of the country - but are united in debt.

The people pictured in the portraits below have all laid bare their personal finances - revealing the sometimes-crippling amounts of money they owe.

One business owner borrowed $250,000 to fund a laundromat, and is now struggling to shift it - while others have been struck by illness, fraud and what they admit is 'frivolous spending'.

Others owe more modest amounts - often from college fees and credit cards - but have varying levels of optimism about how they will ever pay it back.

All are featured in The Debt Project, a series of photographs by artist Brittany Powell, aiming to investigate how people come to borrow and owe such life-changing amounts of money. Each is accompanied by a hand-written note.

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$30,000: August Golden, a 27-year-old carer from Portland Oregon, is pictured above in his bedroom. He said most of his debt came from using a credit card for living expenses while in college. He says he will likely be paying it off 'for a long time'

$130,000: Katye Kilbourne, 25, lives in New Orleans, where she works as a street performer and musician. She said her total came from medical bills, student debt - and some which she was saddled with after her identity was stolen

In a statement accompanying the project, Powell said he own experience of bankruptcy prompted the project, which is now around half complete.

She wrote: 'Debt is publicly enforced and highly stigmatized, but is almost always privately experienced... My goal is to photograph 99 people across the US, in order to bring people together to re-contextualize an abstract, often shamed experience.'

One of her subjects, a middle-aged man who owes $50,000, said that the state of his finances was something he never expected. He said: 'Never thought in my life that I would be in this much debt for so long, it never ends.'

But another, a 26-year-old writer from Portland, Maine, said that his debts give him motivation. He said: 'I feel privileged to be allowed such things on the promise to pay.... My debts are heavy, but motivate me... I will pay them slow 'n' steady, like a perseverent tortoise.'

The honest confessions come as levels of debt across the United States continue to spiral. According to comparison website CardHub, the average American household owes $7,177 in credit card debt alone.

Meanwhile, graduates owe a total of $1.2trillion in student debt - 40million borrowers who owe an average of $29,000 a piece - which is holding young people back from home ownership, starting a family and establishing businesses.

$35,000: Michele Mansin, from Harrison Township, Michigan, said her debt came from college expenses, spending on mail-order catalogs and also debts she ran up trying to live while she was homeless

$75,000: Grace Ragland, from Oregon City, Oregon, is a family support worker who said her debts came from college and having to raise her children herself when her ex-husband was sent to prison - taking on three jobs to do so. She said she was not well-educated in how to manage her money

$250,000: Ramon Romero, 30, owes a quarter of a million dollars from credit card bills, phone bills and a huge quantity of cash invested in a laundromat business. He lives in Detroit, MIchigan

$42,000: Katherine Way, a teacher, said her debts come from student loans for grad school, as well as credit card expenses. Way, from Portland, Maine, said the total 'leaves a bad taste in your mouth'

$160,000: Mike, who did not provide a second name, live in San Francisco, California. He said his debt stems from study, being unemployed and a poor property decision

$450,000: Horris LeGrande, a musician from Richmond, California, said his total was down to a 'bad mortgage' and being out of work for a long time

$20,000: Sean Scott, pictured in Portland, Oregon, said he racked up most of his debt after getting divorced nine years ago. He is also unemployed

$37,000: Nathan Watson, an artist and a teacher, said he went to graduate school and struggled to earn enough to pay the bills - then spent 'to create opportunities'

$26,000: Bernite Bradley, a community worker from Detroit, said she used to owe $130,000 but has got the total, mainly student debt, down a much lower level

$10,120: Shareen Jallad, a massage therapist, said 'frivolous spending' is behind what she owes, while grieving a relative and not working

$16,730: Cody John Laplante is 26 and lives in Portland, Maine. The freelance writer and teacher was optimistic about his level of debt. He said: 'I feel privileged to be allowed such things on the promise to pay. When you're indentured you know someone somewhere wants you to succeed. My debts are heavby, but motivate me... I will pay them slow 'n' steady, like a perseverent tortoise

$50,000: Sarah King, who works in the nonprofit secotr in New Orleans, said her debts came from graduate school