La Familia: Chuc Xul

Guatemala

Photographs by Robb Pancioni

Photograph by Robb Pancioni. The family. 

In just about any culture, the bed is a personal place. A place that symbolizes security and comfort. It's like the home within our homes. On March 14, 2012 Robb Pancioni found himself on a bed that was as far from his as a bed could be. In this case, the bed was about 70% of the home. Across from it was a small propane stove that was placed on top of what doubled as the second clothing shelf and pantry. All around him hung laundry that was both recently washed but never cleaned. This was the house of Manuel and Heidi Chuc Xul in a small town outside of La Antigua, Guatemala. 

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Kibera's Classrooms, Kenya

Photographs by Rubén Salgado Escudero

Photograph by Rubén Salgado Escudero.   

This series was taken at an elementary school located inside of Kibera, Kenya, Africa's largest urban slum. The photographer, Rubén Salgado Escudero, spent a few days in the classrooms with the children and wanted to depict an everyday story in these childrens' lives at school. The school holds approximately 500 students having classes in very challenging conditions. Classrooms here are falling apart and are lacking basic needs such as electricity. The staff do their best with what they have, offering the children a safe and comfortable teaching environment, away from the dire conditions which they live in. 

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China: Shanghai Minhang District
Photographs by Jean-Philippe Gauvrit

Photograph by Jean-Philippe Gauvrit. Shanghai Minhang District, 2012.     

Minhang is located at the western side of Shanghai. It has been dedicated to industrial and economic activity for many years and also mixing with residential neighborhoods. The landscape has substantially changed over the years with new industries and populations, and a middle-class emerging and requiring new infrastructure and retail services.   

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In Peaceful Hell
Photographs by Ranak Martin

Photograph by Ranak Martin. Kayakers, Manly Beach, Sydney 2012.

More then 850 prostitutes live at the Kandhapara brothel in Tangail, Bangladesh. Most of them were kidnapped or brought here by trickery. They came here at a young age and some of them are already mothers. Not only do they live at a very high risk of sexually transmitted diseases but also illegal drugs. Both the mother and the child are being exposed to verbal and physical abuse, which makes their everyday life difficult. Education and healthy living is a luxury to them but they still try to find peace in a place like this. 

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Invisibles: Horn of Africa
Photographs by Emmanuel Martin

Photograph by Emmanuel Martin. Untitled.

They come from the Ethiopian highlands, Mogadishu in Somalia, they run from all the same poverty, civil war, the drought and famine, and find themselves on the roads of exile.  

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Trapped
Photographs by Jenn Ackerman

Photograph by Jenn Ackerman. Even though he has memorized the Bible from front to back, an inmate on 23-hour lock down listens to a correctional officer read a passage to him.

The continuous withdrawal of mental health funding has turned jails and prisons across the U.S. into default mental health facilities. The system designed for security is now trapped with treating mental illness, and the mentally ill are often trapped inside the system with nowhere else to go. 

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