Portfolio

28 Mar 2011

Where Children Sleep.

I Came across this wonderful collection of photographs by James Mollison, 'Where Children Sleep'.


Over 2 years Mollison photographed the bedrooms of children from all across the world. Accompanying them are portraits of the children and a small paragraph about there lives. Taking with a large format camera, these images are striking, both for their quality value and most importantly for their thought-provoking and more than often heart-breaking insight. I found the images to be incredibly moving and captivating - an instant add to the wish-list of Amazon books.

Some examples:

Indira, seven, lives with her parents, brother and sister near Kathmandu in Nepal. Her house has only one room, with one bed and one mattress. At bedtime, the children share the mattress on the floor. Indira has worked at the local granite quarry since she was three. The family is very poor so everyone has to work. There are 150 other children working at the quarry. Indira works six hours a day and then helps her mother with household chores. She also attends school, 30 minutes’ walk away. Her favourite food is noodles. She would like to be a dancer when she grows up.

Kaya, four, lives with her parents in a small apartment in Tokyo, Japan. Her bedroom is lined from floor to ceiling with clothes and dolls. Kaya’s mother makes all her dresses – Kaya has 30 dresses and coats, 30 pairs of shoes and numerous wigs. When she goes to school, she has to wear a school uniform. Her favourite foods are meat, potatoes, strawberries and peaches. She wants to be a cartoonist when she grows up.

 Roathy, eight, lives on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. His home sits on a huge rubbish dump. Roathy’s mattress is made from old tyres. Five thousand people live and work here. At six every morning, Roathy and hundreds of other children are given a shower at a local charity centre before they start work, scavenging for cans and plastic bottles, which are sold to a recycling company. Breakfast is often the only meal of the day.

 Home for this boy and his family is a mattress in a field on the outskirts of Rome, Italy. The family came from Romania by bus, after begging for money to pay for their tickets. When they arrived in Rome, they camped on private land, but the police threw them off. They have no identity papers, so cannot obtain legal work. The boy’s parents clean car windscreens at traffic lights. No one from his family has ever been to school.

You can look at more examples here: Telegraph article
and buy the book here: Amazon

8 comments:

  1. I'd just like to point out that "I came across" should read "Steph showed me..." otherwise, a beautiful post miss <3 xxx

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  2. Jeez get out my life, stalker! You anus face! Hehehe thank you for showing it to me. Further more its available in WHSmith for £13. Wowwie Zowwie!!

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  3. Seriously WHSmith for £13 I feel a shopping spree a happenin' :) 'cept I really want the Pixar book too!

    What I was going to saw was great post Laura I love this kind of stuff! I hope Lynn sees it too 'cos it's similar to what she did with the desks at grays!

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  4. Also meant to say in the second child picture...the kid doesn't look real and her room looks like a set!! What do you think?

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  5. Haha yeah, I think most of them could almost be sets. So sad that in fact its all real.

    Not sure if its in store but defs Whsmith online. Amazon don't seem to have any. I think Alison Might appreciate the set too - well worth a look for everyone though.

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  6. This made me sad! Especially the boy from Phnom Penh.
    But it also made me want to buy the book, it looks amazing.

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  7. I think I should get commission on this book if everyone buys it :D

    Of course I'd give my cut to save the children... of course.

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  8. AHHH! it must have been you who told me about this! apparently it's being reprinted at the moment. looks amaaazing x

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