Photograph by Gaia Squarci

Image Title: Ninoska

Paper Dimensions (H x W): TBD

Image Dimensions (H x W): TBD

Year Created: 2021

Image Description: Ninoska hugs her daughter at home in Washington Heights, NYC. "The little one is now seeing realities that I used to be able to shield her from" she told me on the phone a year before we were able to meet. At the time she was locked at home with her abusive husband and her daughters in March 2020. During the first months of lockdown there was a sharp increase in calls to domestic violence hotlines in New York City. After suffering humiliation, control and psychological abuse, all of which got to their worst during the pandemic, Ninoska left her marriage of 15 years behind, for an uncertain future. She now works as a seamstress 6 days a week, 10 hours a day to make ends meet, but she is free. To know more about her story, visit https://readymag.com/u2498283796/3025196/5/ Password: Ninoska

50% of the earnings from the sale of this photograph will go directly to Ninoska, to help her and her daughters with the daily costs of living.

Photographer's Bio: Gaia Squarci (1988) is a photographer and videographer who divides her time between Milan and New York, where she teaches Digital Storytelling at ICP. Gaia is a contributor of Prospekt, an IWMF fellow and National Geographic grantee. Her work is focused on the relationship between human beings and the environment, disability, aging and family relationships. POYi awarded her cinematography and photography work respectively in 2014 and 2017. She was among the 30 under 30 Women Photographers selected by Photo Boite for 2018 and her installation Broken Screen was selected for the exhibition reGeneration3 at Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne in 2015.

www.gaiasquarci.com/