Photographs By James Mollison
Out of sight, out of mind, the phrase continues to plague my perspective. I suppose that’s why traveling’s so important. A collaborative project between American journalist Chris Booth and photographer James Mollison, Where Children Sleep is a photo exposé aimed to present the differing sleeping spaces of children around the world. Focusing on the realities of inequality, Mollison hopes to compel children to consider inequality as it effects them and their surrounding society. One of the more meaningful projects I’ve come across in a while, Mollison’s photographs paint a reality that is difficult to depict through words. Read on to let Chris Booth and James Mollison show you where children sleep.
Lamine, 12, lives in Senegal. He is a pupil at the village Koranic school, where no girls are allowed. He shares a room with several other boys. The beds are basic, some supported by bricks for legs. At six every morning the boys begin work on the school farm, where they learn how to dig, harvest maize and plough the fields using donkeys. In the afternoon they study the Koran. In his free time Lamine likes to play football with his friends.
Tzvika, nine, lives in an apartment block in Beitar Illit, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is a gated community of 36,000 Haredi (Orthodox) Jews. Televisions and newspapers are banned from the settlement. The average family has nine children, but Tzvika has only one sister and two brothers, with whom he shares his room. He is taken by car to school, a two-minute drive. Sport is banned from the curriculum. Tzvika goes to the library every day and enjoys reading the holy scriptures. He also likes to play religious games on his computer. He wants to become a rabbi, and his favourite food is schnitzel and chips.
Jamie, 9, lives with his parents and younger twins brother and sister in a penthouse on 5 th Avenue, New York. Jamie goes to a prestigious school and is a good student. In his spare time he takes judo and goes for a swim. He loves to study finance. When he grows up, he wants to become a lawyer like his father.
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.
Douha, 10, lives with her parents and 11 siblings in a Palestinian refugee camp in Hebron, in the West Bank. She shares a room with her five sisters. Douha attends a school 10 minutes’ walk away and wants to be a paediatrician. Her brother, Mohammed, killed himself and 23 civilians in a suicide attack against the Israelis in 1996. Afterwards the Israeli military destroyed the family home. Douha has a poster of Mohammed on her wall.
Jasmine (‘Jazzy’), four, lives in a big house in Kentucky, USA, with her parents and three brothers. Her house is in the countryside, surrounded by farmland. Her bedroom is full of crowns and sashes that she has won in beauty pageants. She has entered more than 100 competitions. Her spare time is taken up with rehearsal. She practises her stage routines every day with a trainer. Jazzy would like to be a rock star when she grows up.
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.
Dong, nine, lives in Yunnan province in south-west China with his parents, sister and grandfather. He shares a room with his sister and parents. The family own just enough land to grow their own rice and sugarcane. Dong’s school is 20 minutes’ walk away. He enjoys writing and singing. Most evenings, he spends one hour doing his homework and one hour watching television. When he is older, Dong would like to be a policeman.
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.
Thais, 11, lives with her parents and sister on the third floor of a block of flats in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She shares a bedroom with her sister. They live in the Cidade de Deus (‘City of God’) neighbourhood, which used to be notorious for its gang rivalry and drug use. Since the 2002 film City of God, it has undergone major improvements. Thais is a fan of Felipe Dylon, a pop singer, and has posters of him on her wall. She would like to be a model.
Nantio, 15, is a member of the Rendille tribe in northern Kenya. She has two brothers and two sisters. Her home is a tent-like dome made from cattle hide and plastic, with little room to stand. There is a fire in the middle, around which the family sleep. Nantio’s chores include looking after the goats, chopping firewood and fetching water. She went to the village school for a few years but decided not to continue. Nantio is hoping a moran (warrior) will select her for marriage. She has a boyfriend now, but it is not unusual for a Rendille woman to have several boyfriends before marriage. First, she will have to undergo circumcision, as is the custom.
Joey, 11, lives in Kentucky, USA, with his parents and older sister. He regularly accompanies his father on hunts. He owns two shotguns and a crossbow and made his first kill – a deer – at the age of seven. He is hoping to use his crossbow during the next hunting season as he has become tired of using a gun. He loves the outdoor life and hopes to continue hunting into adulthood. His family always cook and eat the meat from the animal they have shot. Joey does not agree that an animal should be killed just for sport. When he is not out hunting, Joey attends school and enjoys watching television with his pet bearded dragon lizard, Lily.
via amusingplanet
20 Comments
This is so revealing of perspective…if that makes any sense. Children all of the same age living such drastically different lifestyles. The exact reason we have no room to judge one another. Our stories are all so different. This is such an awesome project.
Word.
I especially love the inclusion of their future aspirations, (as culturally prescribed as they seem to be…)
And Kaya’s strawberry shortcake dress.
What a contrast..
Which are the lucky ones?
I take from the comments – “culturally prescribed” “lifestyles.” Save the children from the world around us all.
This is an excellent piece of real world journalism.
This is amazing. Thank you for sharing this with us
Beautiful work of art. Love it. It makes my heart ache in the best and worst way.
Although I thought this was a beautiful display of perspective, I think it is important to realize that there are hundreds of thousands of impoverished children living within the United States. I think it was represented here that all of the need is overseas and that the US fosters affluence and luxury. Although it is true that many who are considered “poor” by western standards would live as royalty in the third world, I would have liked to have seen at least one child living below the poverty line in the US rather than 3 who seem to have comfortable homes and their own warm beds to sleep on.
I did not appreciate your representation of the Palestinian child. I am not sure if you intended to do so, or you are just ignorant, but not all Palestinians are Muslims (Palestinian Christians do exist! I am married to one!) and a smaller percentage of Palestinian Muslims are members of ‘radical terrorist organizations’ that carry out suicide bombings. People who don’t know any better will see this and you will help perpetuate this stereotype that Palestinian is synonymous with suicide bomber and terrorist, which is not true and so unfair. Also, you failed to mention in your description of the Israeli settler child that his presence there is illegal by international law and while he enjoys his scripture reading, he is taught by his rabbis and family to hate and fear Arabs, he is taught in his school a politically-driven fabricated version of the history of ‘his country’ used to perpetuate the hatred against Arabs, and is taught that stealing is RIGHT because GOD has commanded it. Pretty pictures, yes, but learn more about your subjects.
Love the photos, but I’m also a little miffed with some of your portraits, particularly the American ones. I’ve lived in the US most of my life, and have rarely seen any child pageant stars or weapon-obsessed mini hunters. They’re a horrible stereotype of American children, and I don’t believe this is a fair representation of the US as a whole. It would’ve been nice to see some kids from the poorer urban areas, or maybe a more typical 10 year old from a middle-income family. Just a thought.
First off I would like to say what a wonderful project this is. I love that it shows how differently some children grow up.I know I was one of the impoverished children in the U.S. and would have liked to see that myself, but I am glad there are children here leading happy childhoods. I would like to hope Steph would STFU. You have no idea what that child is being taught. Have you spoken directly to that child? I’m a Roman Catholic and I was never taught to hate any other religion, although people seem to think I have been. Why don’t YOU talk to these children before you make assumptions. Get off your high horse lady.
I like the mixture of both personal information and information on their culture. Hope to see representation from all continents on here.
Excellence all around!
This is an amazing piece. However, as always, I think the USA is portrayed poorly. There is poverty everywhere in the world just as there is wealth everywhere in the world, and if you think that the wealth is distributed any more or less fair in this country than any other you are blind. It is not the nations responsibility to help individuals (overseas or not) its the INDIVIDUALS responsibility. Like I said, this is still a very creative post, and very thought provoking, but if it moves you you may want to think about DOING BETTER for other.
So let me get this straight; some of you are upset because they didn’t represent American poverty? Yes the American children represent stereotypes and not every child here lives that way, but what makes you think that the same is not true for the other children’s stories? I confess I’m not well traveled, but they seem rather stereotypical too. Ever think maybe that’s part of the point of this piece?
And Steph: I didn’t see in that piece where it said all Palestinians are Muslim. That was one child who was. And clearly that is the stereotype, just like with the American children. Its also very hypocritical to dispute one stereotype at the beginning of your post then go on to perpetuate another.
OMG- some of you people are taking this waaay too seriously. This is not meant to stereotype ANY country or culture. They were children chosen for a project. Shut up already and enjoy the beautiful work out into this piece. UGH such whiners!!!
for all those throwing hissy fits about there not being enough poor Americans – take the time to check out the full collection. e.g. http://www.jamesmollison.com/wherechildrensleep.php?project_id=6&p=5
and anyway if you take each photograph as a representation of every single child in that culture, the problem lies with your ignorance not the photographer’s.
oh and beautiful photos!
The lack of diversity is amusing, consider the US children shown… a far cry from what the norm is here.
Thank you for investing time into this project and sharing it with us. I would Like to use this a resource to teach my 7th grade World cultures class
I think when you put something so drastic as this people are going to have their own opinions obviously but you can’t expect every type of person to be portrayed here. These are just a few of the millions of children in the world and just because there wasn’t a certain “type” not photographed or written about, doesn’t make them any less important in the world. I just don’t think the photographer/journalist meant it in that way or maybe they did but that’s not what I took from this. I just took what was shown and what was written and I thought it was beautiful and sad at the same time. Glad I stumbled upon this.
your great..the picture showing the different character for the the individual person.. ilove it..
Thanks for sharing this I shared these images and captions to my 7th graders (I teach World Cultures) We had great discussions about them
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