This series constitutes an intimate portrait of Arminda, a woman living with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. Through these images, photographer Ana Hop explores her aunt’s daily struggle with a mental illness that—although addressed with greater openness today—was, for a long time, a family secret.
The project reveals the restrictions imposed by her diagnosis, such as the inability to work or maintain an active social life and seeks to prompt reflection on the invisibility of mental suffering. More than a personal document, as the author notes, this work stands as a statement on the urgent need to make visible the pain, marginalization, and stigma that still persist around those living with mental illness.