Born: Rome, Italy
Profession: Photojournalist
Lives and works: Rome, Italy / Buenos Aires, Argentina
In Buenos Aires, the dirty waters of the Riachuelo River define boundaries, and people living near its banks endure alarming conditions.
One of the neighborhoods along the river is called Isla Maciel. People in places like this are often labeled as criminals, discriminated against, and deprived of any opportunity to improve their status, access support structures, or pursue a better future for themselves and their families.
This is the story of several adolescents, like many Argentine boys and girls, growing up on the streets.
Wrath, pain, helplessness, and not only economic misery—these are part of their daily lives. This situation is inherited from many factors: families that are absent or abusive, parents who are addicted or alcoholic, a government that neglects the suburbs, and a police force that is often corrupt and complicit, making deals with narcos.
They have no expectations for the future. Being together is their only form of support—spending days searching for food, expressing rage through rap, loving physically, and at the same time, fighting like dogs.
A daily struggle just to stay alive.
