Travel letters:
Faith: Beyond Rules, in Search of Authentic Spirituality
There comes a moment in life when you realize that what you were taught as absolute truth is no longer enough. For me, that moment came after years spent within a rigid religion, a system that left little room for doubt, reflection, or freedom of thought. It was a world of control, where rules seemed more important than an authentic connection with the divine.
With Faith, one of the central themes of World Travel Lens, I decided to explore this divide between religion and spirituality. Because, yes, they are two profoundly different things. Religion is often a set of dogmas, structures, and laws created by man. Spirituality, on the other hand, is something intimate, universal, born from inner dialogue and the search for deeper meaning. It is the direct connection between you and what you call God, without intermediaries, without filters.
Water: A Symbol that Flows Like Truth
In Faith, water becomes a powerful symbol.
And for good reason. Water cannot be controlled; it has no fixed shape, it flows and adapts. It represents purity, change, and rebirth. Through my photographs, I use water to tell the story of liberation from the chains of rigid thinking, to show how spirituality is a flow that cannot be restrained.
Water is also a reminder of life itself. Without it, we would not exist. And without spirituality, without that authentic connection to something greater, we risk losing the profound meaning of our existence.
My Experience: From Religion to Spirituality
I have experienced firsthand what it means to be part of a system that tells you what to think, how to act, and what to believe. And I realized that true faith cannot be contained in an instruction manual. Spirituality is a personal journey, an exploration that requires courage. The courage to question, to seek, to make mistakes, and to find your own path.
For me, this journey has been liberating. It has led me to discover that spirituality has no dogmas, no hierarchies. It is a silent dialogue between you and the universe, between you and God, between you and yourself.
Why Faith is Important for You
If you are here, perhaps it is because you too feel that something is missing. Maybe you’ve had similar experiences, or perhaps you’re searching for a more authentic faith, far from the rigid structures imposed on you. Faith is my way of telling you that you are not alone.
Through my photographs and reflections, I want to accompany you on a journey that goes beyond rules, beyond fears, beyond conditioning. A journey that leads you to discover a free, personal, and authentic spirituality.
World Travel Lens is not just a photography project.
It is an invitation to look within yourself, to seek your truth, to connect with what truly matters. If you too feel the need to break free from the chains of rigid thinking and explore a deeper spirituality, you are in the right place.
Discover how water, a symbol of transformation and rebirth, can become a metaphor for your inner search. Let yourself be inspired by stories of courage, liberation, and renewal.
Andrea
#Travel Letter:
The weight of happiness
Imagine a child with a red nose, a painted smile, and a bright costume. While the audience laughs and applauds, few wonder what lies behind that mask. The reality is that, in some parts of the world, children are still forced to be clowns, victims of child exploitation that steals their childhood and condemns them to a life of suffering.
The Tragedy of the Clown Children:
Although cases of children forced to be clowns are less documented than other forms of exploitation, there are countries where child labor in the entertainment industry is still a reality. In some regions of India, for example, children are recruited through deception or sold by their families to work in traveling circuses. According to a Human Rights Watch report, many of these children suffer physical abuse, deprivation, and are forced to perform in inhumane conditions, often without access to education or medical care.
In Bangladesh and Nepal, circuses and street performances have also been associated with child exploitation. Organizations such as Save the Children have denounced how these children are subjected to long hours of work, miserable wages and violence, all under the pretext of “entertaining” the public. Their clown smiles thus become a forced mask, which hides tears and fears.
The Psychology of Pain:
Behind every red nose and every colorful makeup, there is a story of suffering. Children forced to be clowns live a double life: that of the cheerful character and that of a minor deprived of his or her childhood. As psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein points out, early exposure to adult responsibilities and the need to hide one's emotions can lead to serious psychological consequences, including anxiety, depression, and a fragmented sense of identity.
Furthermore, the circus or street contexts in which these children are forced to work often lack support structures. Without access to education or stable family relationships, many of them grow up with an uncertain future, marked by trauma that can last a lifetime.
What is being done to stop this exploitation?
International organizations such as UNICEF and ILO (International Labor Organization) are working to combat child labor in all its forms, including work in circuses and street performances. However, there is still a long way to go. In countries such as India, laws against child labor exist, but the lack of controls and endemic poverty make them difficult to enforce.
Awareness campaigns and social reintegration projects, such as those promoted by Save the Children, are trying to offer an alternative to these children. However, it is essential that the global community continues to fight to ensure that every child can live a childhood free from exploitation and full of opportunities.
The drama of children forced to be clowns is a warning to all of us. Behind every painted smile there is a story of pain, and behind every laugh from the audience there is a system that too often ignores the suffering of the most vulnerable. It is our duty to protect childhood and ensure that no child is forced to wear a mask that hides their tears.
#Travel Letters:
Zoos: The Living Hell of Animals
Behind the children's smiles and souvenir photos lies a silent horror. Zoos are not happy parks but suffering camps—places where noble, wild creatures are reduced to depressed puppets, forced to perform in the prisons they call home.
Cages Instead of Forests, Concrete Instead of Sky.
Imagine a tiger, In the wild, it runs for miles, hunts, swims, lives.
In zoos, it paces in circles on a concrete slab, its claws worn down by the desperate need to dig for a freedom that will never come.
Elephants—wise, emotional giants who form deep family bonds in nature—go insane in zoos from loneliness, swaying their heads for hours in madness and pain.
Parrots, born to soar through treetops, have their wings mutilated so they can't escape. Dolphins, meant to swim 100 kilometers a day in open seas, drown in boredom inside tanks smaller than a garage.
The Lie of "Conservation"
"Zoos save endangered species," they claim. Lie.
97% of zoo animals are not at risk of extinction.
Baby animals attract visitors, but when they grow up, they become a problem—sold, traded, or killed.
Polar bears in zoos die 10 years earlier than in the wild, eaten alive by stress.
What Do Children Really Learn?
Not respect—but that locking up living beings for entertainment is normal. They learn that suffering is a spectacle.
We Can Stop This Massacre
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Boycott zoos. Every ticket is a vote for torture.
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Break the silence. Share the truth—these animals scream without a voice.
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Support real sanctuaries, where rescued animals live free from exploitation.
Enough. Now.
There is no "good" zoo. Only legalized prisons—and we are the jailers. Shatter the bars with your choices.
No animal was born to entertain you.
No cage is big enough to be called a home.
#4 travel letters
under the skin
Under the Skin
There is a pain that knows no language,
that pulsates in every nerve like a silent storm.
It's the flesh that breaks
but even more, it is the soul that screams,
without voice, without echo.
The body bent, tortured,
becomes a temple and a prison.
Every beat is a nail,
every breath a held fire.
Yet, the most ferocious pain
it cannot be seen, it cannot be measured.
It's what digs inside,
between memories and broken dreams,
between what you were and what you fear you can no longer be.
Physical pain tears,
but it is the heart that bleeds in rivers,
when the weight of every step becomes a prayer,
when relief is a mirage beyond the desert.
You learn to smile through cramps,
to walk on their own ruins.
You learn at a high price
that some wounds never heal,
that some nights don't bring sleep,
that the pain, sometimes,
it's the only truth that remains.
Yet, in the darkest abyss,
where every fibre trembles,
a spark is born:
not of victory,
but of fierce resistance.
I am my pain,
and yet I am beyond my pain.
I am the crack that sings,
the blood that still flows,
the fragment of light
who never stopped looking for the sky.