One day on the New York subway, I watched a boy of about eight walk through the train selling candy. It was a scene I had seen many times before — one most New Yorkers know. Then he sat down and began to cry. I never learned his name or his story, but I could not forget him.
We do not have to follow the conversation about immigration to encounter it in our daily lives. Sometimes it is right in front of us, in a child carrying a box of candy. The Sweetbox is a staged story inspired by that moment: an attempt to look beyond a familiar scene and imagine the family, the pressure, and the hope we cannot see.
Beyond the Box
In New York, a child selling candy on the subway can become part of the scenery. We notice the box, perhaps buy something, and continue with our day. I created The Sweetbox because I wanted us to pause and see the child behind it — and the family whose life we know nothing about.
Through this staged story, I want to bring attention to the human experience of immigration: the uncertainty, the sacrifices, and the pressure carried by women and children. As an immigrant myself, this subject is deeply personal to me.
At the center of the project is a pregnant woman. Even as she faces an uncertain future, she is carrying a new life. For me, her strength is also a form of hope.
A Note From The Artist
I made The Sweetbox to speak about the human cost of immigration. This story is personal to me because I am an immigrant myself. I know what it means to begin a life in a new country, and I wanted to explore what happens when money is running out, the future is uncertain, and the pressure begins to change the people closest to one another.
Immigration is often discussed through borders, documents, and numbers. I wanted to show what it can feel like inside a family: the exhaustion, the disappointment, the distance that grows between two people, and the suffering children can carry without anyone noticing.
My work as a photographer is centered on pregnancy and children. That is why I chose to tell this story through a mother and her son, with another child on the way. This is a staged story, but the emotions behind it are real. I hope it makes us look more closely at the people we pass every day — not only at what they are doing, but at what they may be going through.
And I wanted to leave room for hope. Even when this woman cannot see what comes next, she is carrying a new life. For me, that is both the fragility and the strength at the heart of this story.
