TOW #7: The Bedrooms of Children Around the World

Featured in an article in the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail, photographer James Mollison found a unique way to capture the lives of children around the world by taking pictures of their bedrooms. A director of many Australian art galleries, Mollison utilized his artistic expertise to take astonishing photos that send a very deep message about how child rights and equality differ greatly in different countries. His message is addressed to those living in first world nations, like England and America, who are used to living a very high quality of life and rarely think of those who are not as fortunate as them. Mollison mixes photos from such privileged nations with photos of extreme poverty in Asian, South American, African, and Middle Eastern countries to show to viewers in an unforgettable way how fellow humans on the same planet live such different lives. By employing such powerful juxtaposition, the inequalities between the haves and the have nots of the world become abundantly. The images are simple, yet reveal so much about the lives of the children. Girls and Japan and America are spoiled by their parents, given whatever comforts they want, while girls in third world nations live away from their families as domestic servants to survive. Their rooms symbolize the kind of lives they have from the moment they are born; lives full of comfort and riches or lives of struggle and poverty. Image after image provokes a question in the views; why do some children have so much yet others have so little? Is the disparity between quality of life fair? The answers to these questions are very clear – it is not fair. Mollison’s use of symbolism and juxtaposition is simple yet very moving. Lack of words does not make the message any less strong, as the pictures represent one of the best arguments for human rights I have ever seen. Mollison’s goal to educate those from privileged backgrounds of what other people have to live through was very well achieved through this collection of photographs that went viral. In just a few snapshots of rooms, Mollison showcases the world’s struggle. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2595808/Sleeping-rubbish-surrounded-guns-poster-Chairman-Mao-Photographs-world-children-slumber.html