Photographer Niikai
Wells, center, fell ill
with covid. “Having to
explain to my kids that
Dad’s going to be okay
was gut-wrenching,”
he says. He adds: “It
changed me inside. I
knew what I was
willing to sacrifice for
the sake of creativity
and how I felt without
my are na that is the
city to play in.”72 NOVEMBER 28, 2021