The lilac prints

I collaged the young boy from a painting I found in the 'The Young Boy' with the budding lilac in an attempt to symbolise the forced early sexual development some children must experience when faced with abuse or forced into child prostitution.

I wanted to keep the image for the print quiet simple, not too much detail and concentrate on quality of colour. My favourite are the ghost prints (the last two prints, green and pink) , I reprinted the plate without inking it up a second time. The image is fainter and slightly ghostly I think.  

Although the message behind the print is one that often makes people uncomfortable, something no one would wish upon anyone; I wanted the message to contrast with the image, I wanted the viewer to look at the print and see it as art before the understood the message, so I tried not to be too literal. I wanted the image to resemble the nude figures portrayed in Renaissance art, idyllic, tasteful and simple. I picked a painting where the boy's face was covered to keep it objective. The faceless nude boy represents children all over the world who have been hurt and exploited, children who have been forgotten about and neglected. His naked body dramatises the vulnerability of all of these children.

This is the sketch from the collage in preparation for the print. 

I inked the plate up in intaglio ink, and then did a light roll up with a lot of extender ink to make the base colour quite transparent. The roller was a bit dirty and the edges ended up grey, but I really liked how it turned out, i didn't want it to be too vibrant or solid in colour.

Rose

The photo of the two children in grey scale was a found image from the book 'Pictures of Innocence', I collaged the flowers in the corner, like the other collages to symbolise the theme of sexuality representing the abuse some children are faced with. 

Child Soldiers II

Feminine and Fun

The original photograph of the child is by Sally Mann, the subject is her own daughter. Her photographs have caused much controversary, including accusations of child pornography. Her reasoning behind photographing her children naked other inappropriate and very physical images was that they are her children and it is a natural image through a mother's eyes to see them like this. It's fair to argue that it is reason enough for her but for these to be available and published to the public is dangerous, she has created sex symbols out of her young children.

This is not to say I do not like her work, I think she is incredibly bold and the fact that her photographs have caused such controversary means she has succeeded in creating beautiful art, this controversary has built her popularity. Her photographs spark great debate. I criticise some of these photographs under my own theme for this project because it fits but I will also say that I love Sally Mann's work. She has a gift of evoking strong reactions, she has admitted that she 'likes pushing buttons'. People may criticise and condemn but she knows and her children know that she only aimed to capture the beauty and transience of her children, through a mother's eyes.

"I'd never seen child pornography. It wasn't in people's consciousness. Showing my children's bodies didn't seem unusual to me. Exploitation was the farthest thing from my mind."

I collaged the flowers over again dramatising the sense of sexuality in these pictures. These are incredible photographs but personally I think as a mother she should think about the impact these photos could have on her children. This is in some sort a form of neglect to her children's rights.

'I'm Too Young'

The Cadeaux editorial in Vogue used images of young girls, dressed as grown women, creating a sex symbol out of a thing of innocence. They may argue it's for the sake of fashion or art but at the end of the day it isn't a painting an altered image; it's a photo of a young girl dressed as a grown woman posing provocatively. A child shouldn't even be aware of sexual appeal at this age.

These are some of my collages.

Boy Collage

The image of the young boy nude portrays the vulnerability of a child. The flower is a common symbol for sexuality, by covering him in a crude way it shows how some children are introduced to sexuality before their time, tainting their innocence. The flower is placed in a crude way but the original photo was even worse, it showed him completely naked and may as well be classed as child pornography.

Child Soldier I

By collaging the soldier's body and the child's head I intended on dramatising how quickly a child is forced to grow up when their childhood is stolen by exploitation. While researching I came across images of child soldiers, fighting, using guns, taking drugs and looking tough. At the end of the day they are children, not fit to be soldiers.