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Early last year, Italian photographer Giulia Bersani was searching for a compelling story to tell. As an experiment, she decided to post the following message on her Facebook page: “If you think you have a pretty/strange/interesting life and you would like to trust me and work with me (wherever you live) feel free to write me.” To her surprise, a girl named Giada from Napoli replied, “my life is a story which tells about shit and love. Beautiful and damned… It’s pure poetry.” Intrigued by the interesting potential of this subject, Bersani found herself in the heart of Napoli a few weeks later, documenting Giada’s story of love, life and motherhood. The resulting series, titled Stronger, stems from the powerful city of Napoli and one women who resides there.

In hazy, color saturated images, Bersani captures the everyday life of Giada, a woman full of energy and emotion. Giada decided to tell her story to Bersani as she believes it is very painful but very beautiful at the same time. She has a ten year old daughter and comes from a difficult past of drugs and family problems. Bersani soon found intense parallels between Giada and her hometown of Napoli. As she explains, “everything in Napoli is stronger. Every taste, every smell, every sound or emotion is amplified. I often started to cry just looking at the sunset or listening to a song on the streets. It is a really chaotic and touching city; you can find life everywhere… I think it has been one of the strongest experiences of my life; I could feel the fire inside them all and inside the city.”

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All images © Giulia Bersani