Portraits Of Boston: My Inspiration

“My mom has sleep apnea. One day I came back home to find that she wasn’t breathing. I called 911, and in the meantime I tried different things to get her to breathe. By the grace of God, she survived; otherwise, I wouldn’t have a mom today.”

“Did she raise you by herself?”

“My father is around, but they’re divorced and I live with my mom.”

“What does she mean to you?”

“She’s my inspiration for everything. She made sure I stayed off the streets; she made sure I did my homework; she made sure I finished high school. I took a year off from college, but next year I’m going back. If not for her, I don’t know where I would be today. I see a lot of people carrying guns and knives around. There’s more to life than violence, and gang banging, and slinging drugs. Get a real job. My mom and I have this conversation at least twice a week. I tell her every day, ‘Mom, I’m so proud of the woman you are.’ Honestly, she means everything to me.”

Portraits of Boston is a project of independent photographer Ivan Velinov. He is regularly sharing some of his favorite portraits with WBUR. Visit his website to see the hundreds of portraits he has taken on the streets of Boston.