People 2nd place winner

Finding how to express the duality of an Irish Traveler’s childhood is where the series began. I watched a poetic and tender freedom so intricately meshed with a rough future ahead, and lovely freckled faces adorned with disheveled blond or red hair, smudged with dirt, in clothes too big or too small for them. Little bodies, little hands, little lips throwing words too big for them, running between tires, dog shit and broken glass with bare feet. They don’t realize how short this time will be and how soon they will be thrown into a rough adulthood. Without approaching the infant mortality rates, education access (or lack thereof), social isolation or government forced assimilation, there is a sense of beautiful sadness. Whether it be in the community history, the families stories of pride or loss, in the daily struggles, the cracked but neat floors of the trailers, the well ironed stained clothes or the single bed shared by five brothers without complaint. There is joy too. In they care for each other from a young age, in the hospitality, the pride of the trade or the way they devour ice cream. Sweetmeat and sourbread.

Helene is a French award-winning photographer and writer living in the USA (NJ). Her main focus of work is people whether it be in close up in studio portrait session or on the street as long as a story is told and a connection made. Avid traveler, meeting other cultures, customs, and food is a passion for her, and a priority. She had an exhibit on Paris street photography in 2019, and closed a month long fundraising exhibit on wild and rescue horses in June 2024. Since 2023, she gained recognition (Gold, Silver, Bronze, honorable mentions) from the New York Photography Awards, the Muse Awards and the Paris Photography Awards (PX3) in various Professional categories (portrait, wildlife, street, black and white, architecture).