Warmth amid absence: life of Romanian children whose parents work abroad – photo essay

Alexandra Corcode documents daily life in Romania in this portrait of the trauma experienced by young people whose parent or parents work abroad. The project, which won a Tom Stoddart award for photojournalism, challenges the idea that migration only affects those who leave

A misty silence hangs heavy over the winter garden. It is day break, early March. From a distance, there are desperate cries of the grandmother, struggling to herd the sheep and chickens into the coop. The house silence is broken by the ticking clock in the kitchen and the worn washing machine, struggling for water that never comes.

I sit alone on the sofa in the living room, as the darkness slowly swallows the afternoon. In the next room, Larisa is doing her math homework. Both of us wait for 5.30, the time when her mother finishes work and calls her when she gets home.

Larisa and Monica’s grandmother looks through the window that connects her house to her son’s house in Vătava, Mureș, on 31 December 2023 as Monica’s infant son, Elias, sits on the floor. Monica gave birth to Elias at 19, while her mother gave birth to her at 15.

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