In Self Defense began with a personal experience: a gunshot in the middle of the night, a call to the police that went unanswered, and the quiet, unsettling moment when owning a firearm stopped being unthinkable.

Insecurity and fear are universal — they have accompanied humanity since its origin, and today they manifest in the tension of everyday life as much as in open conflict. This series of 10 large-format portraits documents people who, for different reasons, have felt the need to protect themselves. Faces are absent — fear speaks through body language and the objects each person carries, artifacts that have shifted from their original purpose to become something else entirely: weapons, shields, a last resort.