Take Care

TAKE CARE In Italy, female migration—primarily from Eastern Europe—plays a crucial role in providing care for the elderly and individuals with serious illnesses. This phenomenon is largely driven by the inadequacy of public welfare in meeting the growing demand for assistance. Currently, approximately 1.5 million caregivers are employed across the country. The role of a “caregiver” is often the most immediate job available for these women, particularly due to language barriers and the precarious legal status many face. Additionally, the job allows them to save money by living with the people they care for, eliminating rent and utility costs. However, the significance of the places these women inhabit extends far beyond their practical function. The homes where they work are not truly their own. These spaces are temporary, impersonal, and often lack the possibility of personalization, rendering them almost like “non-places” — spaces that are purely functional and transient. While these homes may provide shelter and employment, they also serve as environments where these women’s identities are constantly in flux. They are living in spaces that simultaneously offer some degree of comfort and independence but also reinforce a sense of displacement. Their sense of self is often redefined by the limitations of these spaces, as they have little agency in shaping their environment or making it a true home. The project aims to capture this complex relationship with place through a series of portraits. The women featured were photographed in the homes where they both work and live, showcasing the environments that, for a time, become their own. These are places they cannot fully personalize, which reflect their transient status. They become spaces where their personal identity is re-negotiated daily, as they transition between the roles of caregivers, women, mothers, and daughters. These homes are not places of permanence but spaces of passage, where these women's identities evolve in response to the environment they must adapt to.