Caregiver Liliya Khodunay cuts Anna’s hair in Anna’s dwelling in Milan, Italy, in February 2023.
Chiara Negrello
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Chiara Negrello
Caregiver Liliya Khodunay cuts Anna’s hair in Anna’s dwelling in Milan, Italy, in February 2023.
Chiara Negrello
Previous to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, amongst European Union member states, Italy was dwelling to one of many largest communities of individuals of Ukrainian origin. In line with information from the EU, over 200,000 Ukrainian residents had been residing in Italy as of late 2020. This migration made them one of the rooted international teams within the nation, largely composed of girls employed in household and well being companies for the aged.
Photographer Chiara Negrello’s grandmother Lidia Maggiolo was certainly one of them. In 2020, after spending a number of months within the hospital because of COVID-19, when Lidia returned dwelling, she was now not autonomous. For that reason, her household determined to rent Lyubov Mala, a middle-aged Ukrainian caregiver. The challenge ”Caring for our Previous” begins in Negrello’s childhood dwelling, the place she was inquisitive about Lyubov’s selections to stay and work in Italy.
Khrystyna Mala, Lyubov Mala and Milana Dorosh applaud photographer Chiara Negrello’s grandmother Lidia as she pushes her wheelchair by herself for the primary time since returning dwelling from the hospital in April 2022. Lidia was skinny, respiration poorly, unable to feed herself and bedridden when she returned from the hospital. Lyubov helped Lidia enhance so she might accomplish small duties on her personal.
Chiara Negrello
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Chiara Negrello
Khrystyna Mala, Lyubov Mala and Milana Dorosh applaud photographer Chiara Negrello’s grandmother Lidia as she pushes her wheelchair by herself for the primary time since returning dwelling from the hospital in April 2022. Lidia was skinny, respiration poorly, unable to feed herself and bedridden when she returned from the hospital. Lyubov helped Lidia enhance so she might accomplish small duties on her personal.
Chiara Negrello
In March 2022, one month after the battle in Ukraine began, a part of Lyubov’s household lived at Lidia’s home. At the moment, six folks from 4 generations and two completely different cultures had been residing in a small condo in Rovigo, Italy. Cohabitation was not simple because of completely different languages, habits and wishes. Dwelling collectively was a collision in some methods, but in addition a solidarity encounter at a time of large struggling.
Olena Melnyk tunes the bandura, Ukraine’s nationwide instrument, in Ravenna, Italy, in January 2023. Olena works as a caregiver, however she studied to be an expert bandora musician. At this time, she makes use of the instrument to carry folks nearer to her tradition.
Chiara Negrello
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Chiara Negrello
Olena Melnyk tunes the bandura, Ukraine’s nationwide instrument, in Ravenna, Italy, in January 2023. Olena works as a caregiver, however she studied to be an expert bandora musician. At this time, she makes use of the instrument to carry folks nearer to her tradition.
Chiara Negrello
Lyubov Mala huggs her daughter Khrystyna Mala the morning she arrived in Italy from Ukraine after the start of the warfare on March 3, 2022. Lyubov was relieved as a result of Khrystyna managed to make it to Italy, arriving by bus a couple of weeks after the battle began.
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Lyubov Mala huggs her daughter Khrystyna Mala the morning she arrived in Italy from Ukraine after the start of the warfare on March 3, 2022. Lyubov was relieved as a result of Khrystyna managed to make it to Italy, arriving by bus a couple of weeks after the battle began.
Chiara Negrello
The occupation of caregiver is a low-paying job in Italy, though most individuals who apply have stage of training and lots of had been certified employees earlier than emigrating. They expertise a piece expertise characterised by isolation, subordination, excessive depth of labor and emotional stress. Inside the home partitions, many live-in caregivers are in shut contact 24 hours a day with the particular person they take care of. The inevitable consequence of this circumstance is a negotiation of privateness, which on each side is a really skinny line. Caregivers are there on the aged particular person’s most susceptible moments: they modify them, wash them, feed them.
Caregiver Maria Oleksiivna Fedoryshyn’s shadow seems as she goes to the kitchen to arrange the lunch for Tommaso, the person she cares for, in Bologna, Italy, in December 2022. Maria was important in supporting Tommaso and his household when he returned from the hospital after he had a stroke, serving to him recuperate and supporting his spouse and son. Maria has lived in Italy for 20 years.
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Caregiver Maria Oleksiivna Fedoryshyn’s shadow seems as she goes to the kitchen to arrange the lunch for Tommaso, the person she cares for, in Bologna, Italy, in December 2022. Maria was important in supporting Tommaso and his household when he returned from the hospital after he had a stroke, serving to him recuperate and supporting his spouse and son. Maria has lived in Italy for 20 years.
Chiara Negrello
Caregiver Liliya Khodunay responds to messages on the cellphone throughout a break in Milan, Italy, in December 2023. For individuals who expertise the battle from afar, this ”social” expertise is way more amplified. Telephones usually are not solely a strategy to keep in contact but in addition to remain consistently up to date on the information. The cellphone impacts their temper, would not allow them to sleep at night time and rings on a regular basis.
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Caregiver Liliya Khodunay responds to messages on the cellphone throughout a break in Milan, Italy, in December 2023. For individuals who expertise the battle from afar, this ”social” expertise is way more amplified. Telephones usually are not solely a strategy to keep in contact but in addition to remain consistently up to date on the information. The cellphone impacts their temper, would not allow them to sleep at night time and rings on a regular basis.
Chiara Negrello
Ukrainian caregivers and their household collect to have a good time Ukrainian Christmas, though not on the exact day of the vacation, in Bologna, Italy, in January 2023. Persevering with to have a good time holidays regardless of the grief of the warfare permits Ukrainians in Italy really feel nearer to their homeland.
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Ukrainian caregivers and their household collect to have a good time Ukrainian Christmas, though not on the exact day of the vacation, in Bologna, Italy, in January 2023. Persevering with to have a good time holidays regardless of the grief of the warfare permits Ukrainians in Italy really feel nearer to their homeland.
Chiara Negrello
The caregivers expertise their employers’ houses as if they’ve all the time been a part of them, sleeping of their kids’s outdated rooms and shifting from place to put as outdated household photographs cling on the partitions watching their actions. Nevertheless, they’re additionally compelled to compromise their private area, discovering themselves in an surroundings they name ”dwelling” however that isn’t solely correct. When they’re allowed to take a break from work, they proceed to sense the presence of the particular person they take care of, and are on the alert if the particular person calls out, in want.
With the continuing battle between Russia and Ukraine, many caregivers have determined to remain in Italy and help their very own households, financially, from afar. Nevertheless, experiencing battle at a distance causes nice tensions that may additionally undermine the connection with the aged particular person they take care of. They’re usually nervous and have much less persistence, isolating themselves with their telephones and studying the information, shifting to different rooms to textual content or make a fast name.
Individuals attend companies on the Ukrainian church in Bologna, Italy, when the group was praying for the tensions that had been already looming between Russia and Ukraine in January 2022. Many caregivers use their free time to attend church. This isn’t solely a strategy to ease the ache of distance but in addition to get along with pals with whom they’ll share frequent considerations.
Chiara Negrello
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Individuals attend companies on the Ukrainian church in Bologna, Italy, when the group was praying for the tensions that had been already looming between Russia and Ukraine in January 2022. Many caregivers use their free time to attend church. This isn’t solely a strategy to ease the ache of distance but in addition to get along with pals with whom they’ll share frequent considerations.
Chiara Negrello
Maria Oleksiivna Fedoryshyn is on the cellphone along with her household in Ukraine on a morning after intense in a single day shelling whereas she lives in Bologna, Italy, in October 2022. Maria’s son is a soldier who has been preventing on the entrance for the reason that first days of the invasion. Maria wakes up within the morning instantly checking her cellphone to make sure that her son remains to be alive.
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Maria Oleksiivna Fedoryshyn is on the cellphone along with her household in Ukraine on a morning after intense in a single day shelling whereas she lives in Bologna, Italy, in October 2022. Maria’s son is a soldier who has been preventing on the entrance for the reason that first days of the invasion. Maria wakes up within the morning instantly checking her cellphone to make sure that her son remains to be alive.
Chiara Negrello
Milana Dorosh performs on the park in Rovigo, Italy, in April 2022. Milana, her mom and brother escaped to this city after warfare broke out in Ukraine.
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Milana Dorosh performs on the park in Rovigo, Italy, in April 2022. Milana, her mom and brother escaped to this city after warfare broke out in Ukraine.
Chiara Negrello
The caregivers share their fears in regards to the warfare with the aged folks they take care of, who empathize with them however are unsure what to say to supply consolation. Bedrooms grow to be the live-in caregivers’ shelters, and though they’re locations the place they needed to adapt, at this time they’re the rooms they’ve embellished and the place they really feel protected.
Liliya Khodunay stands along with her pal Vira Zhmurko whereas they chat with household of their free time in Milan, Italy, in February 2023. Liliya and Vira are from the identical metropolis in Ukraine, which has been beneath assault for the reason that first days of the invasion. They’ve been pals for a very long time and have lived collectively since Russia invaded Ukraine, as Vira was visiting Italy and couldn’t return dwelling.
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Liliya Khodunay stands along with her pal Vira Zhmurko whereas they chat with household of their free time in Milan, Italy, in February 2023. Liliya and Vira are from the identical metropolis in Ukraine, which has been beneath assault for the reason that first days of the invasion. They’ve been pals for a very long time and have lived collectively since Russia invaded Ukraine, as Vira was visiting Italy and couldn’t return dwelling.
Chiara Negrello
A view of a window in Vira Zhmurko and Liliya Khodunay’s home in Milan in February 2023. Because the warfare broke out and they’re compelled to stay via it at a distance, lots of the Ukrainian girls describe a way of vacancy and silence inside them.
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A view of a window in Vira Zhmurko and Liliya Khodunay’s home in Milan in February 2023. Because the warfare broke out and they’re compelled to stay via it at a distance, lots of the Ukrainian girls describe a way of vacancy and silence inside them.
Chiara Negrello
Lyubov’s hand tenderly caresses Lidia’s face. Lyubov, who has lived in Italy since 2007, began caring for Lidia in January 2021. Lyubov performed a significant function in my grandmother’s bodily and psychological restoration. The 2 constructed a powerful bond in a short while. Inside a yr, my grandmother was attaining small successes daily with Lyubov’s assist.
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Lyubov’s hand tenderly caresses Lidia’s face. Lyubov, who has lived in Italy since 2007, began caring for Lidia in January 2021. Lyubov performed a significant function in my grandmother’s bodily and psychological restoration. The 2 constructed a powerful bond in a short while. Inside a yr, my grandmother was attaining small successes daily with Lyubov’s assist.
Chiara Negrello
Caregivers’ days are punctuated by the cellphone ringing and the newest updates coming in from the numerous chats. Ukrainian girls all the time test the areas the place Russia has attacked, for concern that their pals or household could be affected. The caregivers are particularly involved in regards to the aged and kids near them, since they’re essentially the most susceptible. They frequently write and name to make sure that all is properly and wish to be up to date on something that occurs.
Acquainted phrases come up when referring warfare or battle, comparable to invasion, borders, loss, compromise, withdrawal and irruption. In their very own manner, caregivers additionally expertise these phrases of their day by day lives whereas caring for folks in an unfamiliar nation: invasion of bodily and emotional private area, negotiation between the 2 sides, lack of their intimacy and withdrawal from their homeland and household. They’re residing via a warfare from afar and going through a battle inside themselves.
Clothes hangs on a mechanical lifter in Anna’s dwelling in Milan in December 2022.
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Clothes hangs on a mechanical lifter in Anna’s dwelling in Milan in December 2022.
Chiara Negrello
Caregiver Vira Zhmurko (proper) holds Anna’s hand in Milan in November 2023. Vira had come to Italy a couple of days earlier than Feb. 24, 2022, to substitute for a pal who needed to return to Ukraine. Nevertheless, after the warfare broke out, Vira discovered herself caught as her metropolis was being bombed by Russia.
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Caregiver Vira Zhmurko (proper) holds Anna’s hand in Milan in November 2023. Vira had come to Italy a couple of days earlier than Feb. 24, 2022, to substitute for a pal who needed to return to Ukraine. Nevertheless, after the warfare broke out, Vira discovered herself caught as her metropolis was being bombed by Russia.
Chiara Negrello
Chiara Negrello is a documentary photographer based mostly between Italy and Southeast Asia.