Once you begin to see beyond the initial gloss—or grime, depending on your point of view—you find a city that is endlessly layered, filled with contradictions that make it all the more compelling.

From refugee crises in distant lands to the ethical dilemmas of labor practices in factories thousands of miles away, the moral sphere has grown vast and, with it, our sense of responsibility.

We risk losing sight of the human element, the individual stories of displacement that cumulatively tell a tale of profound sorrow and loss.

They remind us that affection can be measured, that love can be felt even in the spaces where words and gestures do not intrude.