Centro María
Centro Maria is a residence for young women in New York run by Catholic nuns from Spain and Latin America. When I moved to New York in 2002, I came to Centro Maria on the recommendation of a friend of my mother, who had stayed there many years ago. My first reaction was to the contrast between the residence and its chaotic environs in the area of midtown Manhattan known as Hell's Kitchen. I was planning to stay just for a few weeks while I looked for an apartment, but over time that changed as I got to know the nuns that lived and worked there.
These nuns are full of stories, but are generally very closed with respect to their private lives. They work all day cooking, cleaning, fixing things, doing laundry, and praying. These women sacrifice everything to work for God and to help others, but at times they must cope with feelings of frustration and isolation. At first the nuns weren't willing to let me photograph them. They didn't understand why I could want to take their pictures. But after living there a few months and building closer relationships with them, gradually I was able to take more and more photos. The focus of the project was to take the portraits in key spaces of the house, places where they were most, or places over which they felt a sense of ownership.
