Finaliste

In an endlessly white space, an empty crib. Inside, a bundle of barbed wire. This is how my postpartum felt after my first child was born—a cradle meant to be a refuge, yet filled with thorns.

I took this photo nearly five years later, after my second child arrived. And then, I understood how much had changed. How much I had changed. Motherhood, at first touch, is a labyrinth of uncertainties, where no amount of care seems enough. Fear lingers—fear of the world, of the baby, of the new bond that makes us one.

A first-time mother dreams of unique moments, yet reality can be overwhelming. The body shifts, hormones burn, the skin becomes unfamiliar ground. Everything is filled with contradictions: love and fear, anxiety and hope, tenderness and thorns.