What does it mean to be free? is the first book by Juliette Dupuis Carle, the outcome of a project carried out over more than three years. The work retraces the journeys of women who managed to leave their ex-partners. Through this series the author explores the hold and the complexity of coercive control, whether economic, physical, mental or sexual violence. From these testimonies, photographs and writings emerges the force of life and creation that drives these women after the trauma. After living under control for so long, they are photographed in their regained freedom, while shedding light on the wounds left by such an experience. In her artistic process, Juliette Dupuis Carle accompanies each participant in a space of reparation that allows vulnerability to be expressed. She chooses to show them not as victims but as the heroines of their own story, highlighting their determination to fight in order to exist.