A photojournalist follows a mother’s rebuild after escaping domestic violence

Jessica Phelps, a photojournalist with the San Antonio (Texas) Express-News, is documenting Kryslyn Stanley’s recovery from domestic abuse and her fight to get back on her feet for herself and her daughters.

Phelps said when news outlets cover domestic violence, it’s usually so far after the fact — after someone has already been killed by a partner. You’re photographing somebody not there, she explained, or it’s a year or two later — or a decade later and the person is talking about the violence. Those photographs are more portrait-based, she said.

“And because this was so raw, and it was right when it had happened, I knew it was a really good opportunity to show people the messiness of domestic violence and what it looks like: the physical scars of it, but also the emotional ones,” Phelps said.

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