SOPHIE'S WORLD
Poverty, greed, harmful social norms, and human cruelty combine to place families at risk of trafficking around the world. Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry and exists in every country. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Walk Free, an estimated 50 million people were living in situations of modern slavery globally in 2021, as reported in the 2022 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage.
This series follows Sophie, a single mother of two young children living in Nairobi's Kibera settlement. She was trafficked by someone she believed was a friend.
Desperate to support her family, Sophie accepted what she thought was an opportunity to work as a housekeeper. She traveled with her friend to Mombasa, hopeful that the job would provide a better future.
"I remember feeling excited about the interview and the possibility of starting a new job. I boarded a bus and made the four-hour journey to Mombasa. After the interview, I signed a contract to travel to Lebanon, where I was told I would be working in a hotel. Instead, I was forced to work inside a private family home as a domestic worker. My movement was restricted, I had little or no rest, and I was not allowed to leave. I was being forced to work and held captive."
June 2017
Nairobi, Kenya
This series invites viewers into Sophie's world through the intimate spaces of her home in Kibera, Nairobi. Rather than illustrating trafficking directly, the photographs use everyday objects and quiet moments to reflect memory, confinement, resilience, and survival.
The series opens with Sophie standing at a window, gazing outside. The image symbolizes her time in captivity, when she watched the outside world continue while her own freedom was taken away. The window becomes both a physical and emotional boundary, separating confinement from possibility.
The viewer is then introduced to the exterior of her modest cinder block home, followed by the doorway that welcomes us into her private space. As the narrative unfolds, small personal details begin to tell her story: a well-worn teacup resting in silence, a framed photograph of four generations of her family hanging on the wall, and a worn side table marked by years of daily life.
The photographs continue into the room where Sophie sleeps. A thin mattress lies directly on the floor beneath exposed wires hanging from the ceiling, creating a space that feels both fragile and protective. These images speak to the realities of poverty without reducing Sophie to them, emphasizing the dignity that remains despite hardship.
The final portraits return our attention to Sophie herself. One photograph focuses on her clasped hands, quietly expressing strength, endurance, and hope. The concluding side-profile portrait offers a moment of reflection, inviting viewers to meet her not as a victim of trafficking, but as a woman who has survived, rebuilt her life, and continues to move forward.
Together, the photographs reveal how trauma lingers not only in memory but also within the spaces people inhabit. They are a portrait of resilience, told through the ordinary details of one woman's home and the extraordinary courage required to reclaim a life.