l'autre famille (ongoing)

“Raising a child with an intellectual disability, such as Down Syndrome, on your own, is easier than raising a healthy child in today’s world.” It is through these words that Élodie, a 40 years-old French single mother, explains the choice she has made. In 2008, she adopted her first child, Nathanaël. Then Magdaléna and Abellino joined the family. All of them were born with Down’s Syndrome.

Since the first adoption, Élodie has been fighting for the integration of her children within French society. Her purposes include the equal access to education in spite of the lack of adapted structures. This failure was denounced in a report by the UN (2019) quoting 12 000 disabled children excluded from the education system in France.

The siblings also struggle with the stigma of being different and prejudices about their condition. Even so, together with their mother, they prove that difference is nothing but bountiful.

Since 2014, I have been documenting this family. Their unique story is the focal point towards an open dialogue around the situation of young people affected by mental disabilities. My work provides an intimate insight into the under-reported challenges those children & families face, and relate how they respond to issues in relation to their civic rights

- recipient of the National Geographic Society - COVID-19 Emergency Funding, 2021
- shortlisted by the IWPA for the 2019 edition
- projected at Visa pour l'Image, International Festival of Photojournalism in 2018 (Perpignan, FRANCE )

- shortlisted by the Lucie Foundation for the Emerging Scholarship in 2018 (Los Angeles, USA)

Full portfolio is available upon demand

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