Documentary photo project "Where children sleep" (Where Children Sleep). Everything is relative

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Calling children "flowers of life" is already in the order of things, but it is difficult to imagine how different the "flower beds" and "fertilizers" of these flowers can be. An interesting documentary photo project dedicated to this topic was initiated by a journalist By Chris Boot and a photographer James Mollison from the United States. So, they drove around the world, and took a series of pictures, united by a common name Where Children Sleep … An amazing and informative show, capable of answering some questions from the category "where the world is heading" and "what kind of young people have gone today." The standard of living of children is always initially determined by the family, parents or caregivers. And only then the child is formed by the society, so to speak, tempered. What kind of new man will come to this very society depends on the home atmosphere in general, and the children's room in particular. My home is my fortress, and here, in fact, what kind of “fortresses” went to the guys from different countries and social strata who got into the photo project “Where Children Sleep”.

Eight-year-old Harrison from New Jersey is a happy child with his own room stuffed with a variety of toys, a wonderful car bed that all boys of his age dream of and, obviously, loving parents, since the baby is neatly dressed and combed, and no one is behind the scattered toys punishes. By the way, it may very well be that the Harrison family has a servant who cleans the boy's room, and bathes him, and brushes his hair. Carefree childhood, what could be better?

Little Kai, a four-year-old girl from Tokyo, is also loved and pampered. Her room is like a doll store, and her wardrobe contains more than 30 dresses and the same number of pairs of shoes for all occasions. And just getting ready for school, the parents dress her up in a school uniform. When the baby grows up, she wants to draw cartoons, and calls strawberries and peaches her favorite treats.

This baby is not as lucky as his peer from the previous photo. He sleeps on a mattress in an open field, like his whole family, who arrived in Italy from Romania. They begged for money for tickets from passers-by, and now they earn money by washing car windows at traffic lights. Of course, the child does not go to school, but his family does not think that it is necessary - none of them has ever sat at a desk. This family also lacks documents, as well as education, which means legal work, which means money, normal food, clothes and medicines too …

The family of a Chinese boy named Dong lives in poverty and ruin in Yunnan province. The child sleeps in the same room as his parents and older sister, goes to school located 20 minutes' walk from home, loves to sing and write essays. His family owns a small plot of land where they grow rice and sugarcane, but Dong's farming career is not attractive. He loves watching TV in the evenings and dreams of becoming a police officer.

The child in this picture can be mistaken for Mowgli raised by wolves. But no, this is a seven-year-old girl named Indira, whose family lives in Nepal, Kathmandu. The family is very large and very poor, so everyone, young and old, must work. And little Indira has been earning money since she was three years old, working in a granite quarry, along with two hundred other children from poor families like her. So, the girl spends six hours at work, then helps her mother in the house, which consists of one room and a large mattress on which all the children sleep. She also goes to school and dreams of becoming a dancer.

And this is a Palestinian girl named Spirit who lives in a refugee camp in Hebron with her parents and eleven brothers and sisters. Spirit is 10 years old, she lives in a room with five sisters, goes to school and dreams of a career as a pediatrician. Their family's home was destroyed by the Israeli military after her brother Mohammed, a suicide bomber, killed himself and 23 other civilians in 1996 in a terrorist attack against Israelis. The photograph on the wall of the room is Mohammed, the hero of the family.

Zvika, a nine-year-old boy from Israel, lives with an Orthodox Jewish family in the Beitar Illit settlement and sleeps in a room with two brothers and a sister. Their high-rise building is completely inhabited by the same Orthodox. Newspapers and television are banned here, and sports are also included in the curriculum. The boy is taken to the school, which is two minutes from home, by car. After graduation, he goes to the library and reads religious literature. Naturally, in such an environment, the child has nothing more to dream about, except for the career of a rabbi.

Unlike previous children, four-year-old Jasmine's eyes glow with happiness. This is not surprising, because the child never needed anything, her family lives in a big house in Kentucky, and the girl has only three older brothers, who, for sure, simply adore her. Moreover, Jasmine is a repeated participant and winner of beauty contests, as evidenced by the numerous crowns and ribbons that hang on the walls of the nursery. Since childhood, the girl knows that she is a born star, and dreams of a career as a rock singer.

As for this teenager, I even find it difficult to determine whether it is a boy or a girl … One thing is clear: the child is in a transitional age, in a desperate search for himself, and it is not surprising if in six months the mohawk and multi-colored hair are replaced by a stylish hairstyle, and a leather jacket with rivets is fashionable costume.