YOUNGER- photography project









This project began when I saw many films based on the theme of childhood through one of my courses. The thematic challenge I took up was to explore the idea of childhood and its perception through time. The films that helped develop and bring inspiration to this project were mostly from foreign cinema especially from the New Iranian cinema. These films came after the revolution (1970s) which made films and there subjects more restrictive because of the Khomeini censorship thus writers and actors even went into exile and film makers started using childhood as a theme and child actors to portray difficult subjects through the sensibilities of children. In 1982 the Farabi Cinema Foundation came to reorganize the scattered cinematic field of work they also gave financial aid to new film makers which slowly expanded the horizon for Iranian cinema. The post-revolutionary cinema is now being celebrated all over the world and is recognized for its true worth. During this peak film makers like Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Majid Majidi also came up and have now been known as few of the best directors in the history of cinema.These directors focused on bringing out the idea of childhood and its meaning we hold in society and whether it is simply a social construct. This theory was introduced by the philosopher John Locke. The concept delves into the idea that childhood is a modern social construct which came up during the 17th-18th century. Before this period children (6 and above) were far more independent and were actually considered to be adults capable of making life choices and working menial labour. Phillip Aries, a French historian gathered information and made his argument through gathering meaning from paintings and artworks.
While it can be taken in many different ways I felt that through time adults have started seeing children in a very protective way this also leads to them dismissing children’s ideas and creative thoughts. This is not very appreciative of the child’s capabilities and slowly leads to children losing their own creativity. I think with the coming generation we are starting to realise that instead of coddling children there is a need to make them better understood by adults and to be taken seriously. Children have this undeniable creativity which knows no bounds and can see potential in almost anything. This ability is what makes them our future and though we need to protect our future we cannot bend it to our will. This project focuses of a set of photos taken of a single subject (a girl of 10 years) and tries to show different emotions and aspects of the child in different locations so as to bring out this idea of wonder and creativity hidden within.
Written photographed and edited by Maanvi Chowdhary