Victoria Ugarte, Precious Moments (PORTRAIT 2022)

Taken at Balmoral Beach, one could be forgiven for thinking that Csilla Love - school teacher, online businesswoman, and “conscious parent” coach - doesn’t have a care in the world. Her loving and carefree demeanour with her children, which jumps from the images, belie six years of struggle and an inner fortitude that formed as a result of it. Struggling with post-natal depression after the birth of her first child, Scarlett, she gave birth to her second son, Xavier two years later, shortly followed by the breakdown of her marriage. Slowly rebuilding her life, she established 2 online businesses, which she successfully ran alongside her teaching. And then COVID hit. After 17 weeks of continuous lockdown and home-schooling with a year-1 and pre-schooler, she juggled working as a teacher online and running her two businesses without the help of her parents, who were stuck in Adelaide due to lockdown laws. Insult was added to injury when she lost her job as a school teacher after 17 years for choosing not to comply with certain mandates. Like many Australians in this pandemic, she continues to grapple with a divided family because of a difference in values and beliefs. Despite all her pressures and setbacks, or perhaps because of them, Csilla never underestimates the value of precious moments spent with her children. 

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.