Anna gave birth to her daughter in a prison in Texas. In a moment she’ll see her child for the first time, for while in prison her baby girl was taken away from her straight after giving birth. She is one of the women in New York provided shelter by the Sarah Powell Huntington foundation, in the middle of the East Village, an old New York neighbourhood. It’s for former female convicts and their children. For most of the children, fathers are a big question mark. And they have only vague notions of mum’s past life. The staff in the shelter keep an eye on the children when they go to school during the day and when they do their homework at night. Most children are on medication: sedatives. Hyperactive is the average diagnosis. Work is being sought for the mothers, but after the attacks of September 11th, the US economy has been more difficult. The rule is that mothers and children leave after three months, but in practice they end up staying longer. Fifteen children participate in the Home/Life photo project. Some of them haven’t seen their mothers in years. Mum was locked up, the child was taken care of by a grandmother or ended up in a foster care program. Now, after all these years, they are reunited in the shelter. Like Anna and her daughter. “I’m going to be a good mother,” says Anna.

“Discipline is important for them and you shouldn’t spoil them. Whether I’ll succeed I obviously don’t know.” In the intervening years Anna’s daughter has been growing up in an Amish community. The daily life in the home: the mothers wait, the children go to school. And after school they live on the street and look around them bewilderedly. They all detest the chaos of the city. The assignment: photograph what you don’t like. The result: photographs of graffiti on the walls and garbage in the streets. “I like neatness, order,” says a girl. Order that she has never known in her youth. All fifteen children show an aversion to drug users. They took photos of each other, their mothers and their friends. The attacks of September 11th is a subject that does not crop up. It didn’t happen in their New York. Even though they live in the East Village, two blocks away from the stricken area, it leaves them cold. They are black. They have other things on their minds. Becoming famous. Dreaming of escaping anonymity. The little boy called Katokie is nearly deaf. He lives in the home but is silent. The whole day. And discovers the possibilities of a camera. One day he sees his mother leaning from the window. She is unaware. Katokie presses the button. It’s the prettiest picture, he thinks.