MARIA Alfieri

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“I became addicted to self- destructive habits, switching one for another, compelled by some death drive you triggered in me; always trying to escape that girl and the body I was in, the woman in me sentenced to silence by the innocent child that you stole.”

Maria

“I left that school year innocent and happy with the world at my feet. I came back after the summer with a dark cloud following me everywhere…”

Hannah

“I remember all too well that when we were out together at a party or social gathering, I would wait for the moment, the one sip of a cocktail that would tip her over the edge. My lovely girlfriend would become someone else altogether. A stranger. A person with a wild look in her eyes for whom our relationship, our bond and our love, faded into the nothingness of a drunken haze.”

Tom

“Our definition of strength seems to be synonymous with ‘controlling’ our emotional state and being able to stay on top of everything, all alone. We don’t see speaking out and authenticity as strength. In fact sometimes it’s painted as a weakness or ‘attention seeking’- as if seeking attention from and connection with others is something abhorrent, rather than a natural human need.”

Cheryle

"For many, self-photography is part of the healing process of discovering who they truly are. It can absolutely be a part of the restoring process, helping to place together the shattered pieces of you that were broken through difficult and heart breaking experiences. Some people seem to really misunderstand the whole point of it. And that’s fine. Not everyone can understand a painting, a photograph or even a song. Some people are more “matter of fact” than others. To me though, it is all about freezing a moment, capturing the thoughts, the emotions and the vibration of a soul in that moment, to be used for self- reflection, to provoke and to challenge negative self-perception. There is so much we can discover about ourselves through self-photography.”

Flo

“Looking back through my journals, I can see the lies that I had always believed about myself. It took me a while to realise that they were lies, but thankfully, when I did, I decided to seek the truth. I am loved. I am wanted. I am beautiful.”

Charlotte

“I always felt different from as far back as I can remember. The odd one out. Complicated. Not sure how or where I fitted in. I was swamped with a general feeling of being ‘wrong’ in some way and life always felt like an uphill battle. I didn’t even feel like I belonged in my own family, like it was a mistake that I was there; the ugly duckling amongst a family of swans.”

Kate

"Now, when I feel that storm coming, I take shelter from it with others, rather than enduring its power on my own. To some extent, its true what they say- a problem shared is a problem halved; mainly because sometimes our own negativity creates worst case scenario’s in our head, which when spoken out loud, lose some of their impact."

Mika

"The hardest thing I ever had to do was tell my children that I had cancer. On that day I believed that nothing could hurt more than tearing a huge hole in the safety blanket of my family. I was wrong. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do was survive the emotional fallout resulting from my diagnosis."

Karen

"Right from the beginning I was rejected and a burden. My father happened to be there for the conception, but as it turns out was engaged to a nurse and was using my mother for what he could get. My mother was an alcoholic before I was born. She remained so during the pregnancy and for years after I was born. My childhood was extremely lonely and confusing. My mother spent days and weeks in bed while my uncle looked after me. She self –harmed and tried to commit suicide numerous times and was admitted to psychiatric hospitals."

Alice

"It’s disbelief that hits you at first; the refusal to accept the situation; your hopes still pinned to a second opinion. I wanted to scream at the sonographer, the nurses and the consultant. I felt the sting of tears behind my eyes and when they fell, I thought they’d never stop. I crumbled. I heaved. I made noises like some wild animal howling into the night, knowing that I’d have to give birth to your lifeless body and hand you over."

Maria