Childhood II Series (2010)
In 2007, Childhood began during a phase of experimentation with street documentary photography - as a departure from ethnographic documentary work. I began to temporarily engage with the lives of unknown children as they explored their environments. As the series grew, I sought to capture the “manufactured” boundaries that children met due to the structure of the societies (UK, USA, Portugal, Germany) in which I photographed; boundaries that contrast with the ephemeral and limitless nature of childhood.
Over the course of the 50 days, I embarked on another exploration of childhood and the series took on a new life. I quickly became captivated with the constant motion of children and sought to capture the movement and flow of these energetic little beings. Childhood became a reflection of impermanence: just as children are ever changing and unpredictable, so are the environments in which they are juxtaposed.
To best photograph children at play, I had to exist in the realm of childhood magic, where life unfolds moment by moment. I sought to be led by the uninhibited spirit that moves through these children and to see the world from a perspective where boundaries blur and imagination is real. Observing the world from a child’s point of view, everything becomes new again. Colors brighten, there is mystery around every corner, the world is full of life.
