There was a time not long ago when I found myself unraveling. In the throes of a bitter divorce, everything that once anchored me, family, identity, confidence, seemed to vanish. I was left questioning my worth, not only as a partner or a parent, but as a person. My creativity, which had always been a quiet companion, felt distant. I stopped seeing beauty. I stopped seeing possibility.
Then something unexpected happened. Quaniet Richards, co-founder of Shoot4Purpose, invited me to join one of their photowalks. It was a small gesture on the surface, but it shifted something deep within me. Surrounded by a group of resilient women, many of whom had faced unimaginable trauma, I witnessed a kind of quiet bravery that both humbled and inspired me. These women weren’t just learning photography; they were reclaiming their voices. And in that space of shared vulnerability and creative expression, I found the courage to begin reclaiming mine.
That invitation was more than just an opportunity to take photographs. It was a moment of reentry—back into the world, back into myself. Slowly, I began to feel again. I began to see again. I began to believe that maybe, just maybe, I had something meaningful to offer through my lens.
Peekaboo was born from that rediscovered vision.
Captured in Barrydale during the Net Vir Pret parade, the image shows a child peering through a fractured hole in a weathered concrete wall. Their hands grip the edge with anticipation, eyes wide with wonder. This is more than a fleeting moment of innocence. For me, it is a mirror, it reflects my own emergence from isolation, my own yearning to connect with the world beyond the walls I had built around myself.
The wall represents the limitations I carried, internal doubts, external judgments, emotional scars. The child’s gaze embodies hope, curiosity, and the unfiltered desire to experience something greater. That tiny crack in the wall? That was my opening too.
Being part of Shoot4Purpose reshaped not only how I photograph but why I photograph. It connected my camera to my conscience, and my creativity to a deeper sense of purpose. I began submitting work, hesitantly at first. Then the affirmations came, competitions won, exhibitions invited both locally and internationally, prints sold. With each step, I felt my self-worth begin to stitch itself back together.
Peekaboo is not simply a visual story of a child watching a parade. It is a portrait of awakening, of possibility, of reaching beyond limitation. It symbolizes the journey I’ve taken, from fractured to whole, from hidden to seen.
Through this image, I honour the healing power of community, the quiet courage of those who share their light in dark times, and the profound transformation that begins when someone simply says: “Come walk with us.”