In 1997, in Spanish Harlem, I met Chris and Wayne. They were living on the streets, at the heart of a community marked by poverty, addiction, and the AIDS epidemic. The first time we met, Chris looked at me and said, “You and your camera, get lost.” I respected her words. Then I waited. Slowly, a relationship of trust began to grow.

For four years, I shared their daily lives, as well as those of the women and men living on the streets of my neighbourhood. As my first long-term documentary project, The Unexpected Road laid the foundations of a photographic practice built on time, human connection, and trust.

Twenty years later, I found Wayne again. He welcomed me as an old friend. This reunion opened a second chapter, revealing what the project had been about from the very beginning: the strength of human bonds, the possibility of transformation, and the time it takes for a life to unfold in all its complexity.