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”.

A boy and a woman run across a railway track as a train approaches in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, October 8, 2015. Many residents disregard sign prohibiting this kind of illegal crossing and choose to do so to save time, local media reported. (Photo by Hao Fei/Reuters/Western China Metropolis Daily)

A pitch invader tries to get through to Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal during the UEFA Nations League 2024/25 League A Group A1 match between Portugal and Scotland at Estadio do SL Benfica on September 8, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by Pedro Nunes/Reuters)

Big wave surfers on their jet skis in front of a surf of a huge wave on the rock of Sao Miguel Arcanjo fort and Nazare lighthouse during a surfing session at Praia do Norte on January 27, 2025 in Nazare, Portugal. (Photo by Stefan Matzke - sampics/Corbis via Getty Images)

Joy Corrigan is seen on June 24, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. The 26-year-old American supermodel wore a peach bra and matching shorts with a bright yellow handbag in LA for the Alo Yoga do. (Photo by The Mega Agency)

Filipino children play as they are doing caroling activities on the street near an airport, days before Christmas in Manila, Philippines, 20 December 2017. Filipinos celebrate the longest Christmas in the world which starts as early as September every year. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA/EFE)

A demonstration of Extinction Rebellion in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has been dissolved by the local triangle (police, judiciary and mayor), February 26, 2021. About eighty activists, some of whom scantily dressed, blocked the Overtoom in Amsterdam-West. About twenty of them do not want to leave, they are taken away elsewhere. (Photo by Koen van Weel/EPA/EFE)

German surfer Sebastian Steudtner rides a big wave during a free surfing session at Praia do Norte, in Nazare, Portugal, 05 November 2023. The Nazare surfing spot in Portugal is one of the world's biggest wave spots in winter time. (Photo by Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA)