Young Carers - A life in Focus

OPPOSITES ALIKE

This is me and my sister.

We didn't really think about this, we were just being normal teenagers messing about with makeup and clothes and then suddenly I came up with the idea for a photo. I thought - I wanna make a photo that will show how much power we have together.

She is complex and profoundly disabled. I'm disabled too but more mildly. Outside of the house, I have Serebral Palsy and inside of the house I help with caring for her. I just love the contrast of the hot tone of the red and the cool tone of the blue. The image, to me, shows that I was always protect her. I feel like red symbolizes protection and I will always protect her when she's at her lowest or weakest so the blue also symbolizes weakness as well.

I think this photo holds so much power of us being together and that we're stronger together as twins. I could have done it many ways, I could have done it so we're actually lying the same way, but I wanted to make it focus on the oppositeness.

We sit together like a puzzle. So we're close, but we're opposites.

DISTRESSED

We were in Camden Town and my sister sometimes stares a lot, and she dreams, so she's absent most of the time. She was staring at this train track and the train was passing. I told her to stay where she was for this image, because I thought that it would show actually how empathetic people should be for her - because she was looking out and I felt like she looked really lonely. And I feel like like I can see the world like as she does as well.

That's why I've called it distressed because I am so distressed for her. It was almost as if she was staring at things that she possibly couldn't actually relate to or access. Like that train, she couldn't access the train, and there were people passing by and she couldn't relate to that or anything like that either.

I think the photography can express emotions in ways in ways that words can't. As part of my disability, is I really struggle with word finding.

I take ages in trying to find a word to describe something and then I'll get embarrassed and then end up not saying anything or say something I don't mean at all. And I feel photography really helps with that, and it relieves the pressure that I put on my shoulders when talking to people in everyday life.

I think this photo shows how much strength she has to be in her position and how much power she holds.  Because I feel that if I were in her shoes, I would break on the first step, I dont know how she does it, Really.

MIMOS

I think that animals are just amazing. I used to work with exotics, and I remember feeling at one with them. They understood me in ways that people couldn't. They can't, you know, argue with you. They made me feel so special. And I feel with elsa - my sister - when she has her really tough days, mimos will come and sit on her lap, a smile means everything to me, and he's the reason why she smiles on her on her tough days. 

It was snowing and we were playing around and I love nature and outdoors. It makes me feel really free. We were playing and then I was like "Hold on, that's gonna be brilliant because I can focus my camera so he can look clear in his eyes" And I thought it would show how much love he has for me and how much love I have for him back as-well.

I don't think he realizes he's very, very special to me and my sister.

He is such a big part of the family.

WISHING

We were in Lester and I'd had a really hard, difficult time and we were just sitting on the grass - we were looking out. I think we were looking at pigeons on a church and I felt as if everybody disappeared and it was just me and him and the world. 

This is gonna sound really cringy, but the world suddenly went really quiet and I felt calm with myself. I started to realise that the world is such a better place  when you're with someone that you love.

And Echo, people say that we're joined at the hip because we're so alike. But dogs - they stick with you. They're loyal to you and I felt like my caring role was pushed aside for a minute and I took time in trying to feel myself again and be at one with him as well.