Tension fills the face of Nicola as she recalls the time her son Kallan was diagnosed at the age of 18 months as autistic. Her first thought was that her son was dead. That life had ended. Filled with overwhelming shock and anger, shouted at the doctors and phycologists that she wasn’t prepared to accept their diagnosis and that she would navigate his life beyond their predictions. 18 years on she has created a world where Kallan has flourished. Although high on the autistic scale, he communicates, shows and can express love, especially for his mother who has made endless sacrifices raising him as a single mother as her husband abandoned her after the diagnosis. Photographed from London on Zoom at Nicola’s home in Bury St. Edmond, England on 11th May 2020.

Nicola and Shoulana were chatting about how their career aspirations evaporated as they assumed the awesome responsibility of becoming the prime carer of their disabled children. Given the photography was being created through the medium of Zoom, a coincidence occurred as they were both speaking at the same time which resulted in the creation of a double exposure. This was not intended by the photographer but ended being an unusual eerie image. Photographed 11th May 202 in Bury St Edmund, Maida vale and London, England.

Resting in bed after another sleepless night for Shoulana. Her son Mekhey has severe brain damage and during the night has multiple epileptic seizures which Shoulana monitors through an app on her phone. This makes for highly erratic sleep and endless bouts of exhaustion. In spite of a frenetic nigh, she joins the weekly zoom session with the other mothers of disabled children. The sessions are becoming a welcome respite and community during the dire days of lockdown. Photographed on Zoom from London at Shoulana’s home in Maida Bale, England 11th May 2020.

Maria joins the Zoom session with her Mother Annalisa. She has become much more needy these last few weeks creating greater demands and refusing to take responsibilities shared in the family. Although this is frustrating to Annalisa, she is exceptionally patient with her daughter given her disabilities of Downs Syndrome and is o the autistic scale. Photographed 8th June, 2020 from photographer’s home on Zoom at Annalisa’s home in North Kensington, England.

It is a blazing sunshine day. Annalisa sits in the garden with her daughter Duja who follows a Japanese cultural trend entitled; Gyaru Girl, hyper eye make-up and girlie pastel fashion. Duja had just finished making up her mother’s eyes following the trend which provided light entertainment during the Zoom session. Photographed 25th May 2020 on Zoom at Annalisa’s home in North Kensington from the photographer’s home in London, England.

Annalisa feels that the Covid-19 lockdown has made her day to day life easier, that her home has always been the safest place to be and the outside world filled with a frenzy of activities that was challenging to their children. Now there is calmness, less public activity. She is feeling less stressed; that was impossible with all the daily demanding schedules of schooling and care before the mandate of staying at home. Photographed on Zoom 27th April 2020, London, England. The other women also concurred with her assessment of how the lock-down has created calmness.