Childhood dreams

Childhood Dreams is an exploration into children's identity formation and the influence of our immediate environment. Set in the early, malleable stages of a child’s development, in the intimacy of the childhood bedroom, it looks at how the self forms in the intersection between internal longings and external factors such as culture and family.

At a young age, before the teenage years when the bedroom transforms into an expression of self-identity, this room reflects the parents' idea of childhood and what they want for their child. In Childhood Dreams, the children are given a voice through the imaginary play. In the make believe world of their own, where they have the freedom to be whatever they want, their choice in costume becomes a revelation of inner motivations and dreams.

In the portraits, the children are found in a serene pose that invites the viewer to meet them, spend time with them and find connections between the children and their environment. I caught them in a moment of transition somewhere in between their external reality and their internal imaginary. It is here where who we are expected to be meets who we want to be and the understanding of the self begins.

What emerges in the series are scenes where the children’s imaginary worlds are strongly connected with reality. They seem to fit in with their surroundings. The individual variations in pose and facial exposure seem to suggest that while some appear compliant within this sphere of influence, others seem trapped. The viewer is left wondering the extent to which we shape and limit our children.