A man rides his motorcycle as the sun sets in Basra, Iraq, Monday, May 9, 2022. (Photo by Nabil al-Jurani/AP Photo)

A Sikh pilgrim sits next to the holy sarovar or sacred pool on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, in Nankana Sahib on November 19, 2021. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)

Police in Stanley, the Falklands capital, had to temporarily close a road after a pair of sea lions picked an awkward spot to get frisky on Sunday, December 5, 2021. (Photo by Genti Cena Photography/Triangle)

Palestinian mother Esma Zuhd cries after her children, Jahan and Ahmed Nasser who died after an Israeli attack at the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on December 29, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A snow leopard looks on from an inside of a cage, after being captured from the southern plains of Nepal and brought to the central zoo, which wildlife experts say is rare for the animal that is found in the higher altitude, in Kathmandu, Nepal on January 26, 2024. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Amish girls play softball after class during an end of the school year celebration on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 in Bergholz, Ohio. The celebration was also part of a farewell picnic for four women and one man from this tight-knit group in rural eastern Ohio who will enter prison on Friday, April 12, joining nine already behind bars on hate crimes convictions for hair- and beard-cutting attacks against fellow Amish. (Photo by Scott R. Galvin/AP Photo)

Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

«Sing»

The story of 20 children born or living with illness or health conditions is being told by Toronto photographer and artist Shawn Van Daele, by transforming their drawings into magical photographs.