A haunting, yet playful danse macabre of naïve forms, Théâtre d'Ombres (Theatre of Shadows) by French artist Christian Boltanski is an illusory light and sculptural installation of intimate human-like shapes made from everyday materials such as cardboard, wire, metal and dried leaves.

Gearon shows us how the shifting divisions between childhood and adult life evaporate, just as in Lord of the Flies. In an empty Texan landscape two children look at a dead animal by the roadside. The boy removes the mask of a fox and play is interrupted by a disturbingly real event. Innocence and the grotesque mix happily together. Her slice-of-life set-ups shift into strange rituals. A boy swings a giant Barbie doll around in the snowy setting of an Alpine village. Is this a child's game or a charade of adult violence, a foretaste of how some men will behave towards women? Gearon incorporates the surreal elements of everyday life into her work. She uses a documentary style to liberate her imagination. The naturalism of photography gives an assurance that the oddball nature of the artist's vision is understandable, even shared.

Holland, P. (2006). Picturing childhood : the myth of the child in popular imagery. London ; New York: I.B. Tauris.

Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Dempsey, K., Higonnet, A. and Decordova Museum And Sculpture Park (2008). Presumed innocence : photographic perspectives of children : from the collection of Anthony and Beth Terrana. Lincoln, Mass.: Decordova Museum And Sculpture Park.

Blackmon, J. and Reese Witherspoon (2014). Homegrown. Santa Fe, Nm: Radius Books, New York, Ny.


FOX, MARY., Fox, G. and Haldemann, A. (2021). Vanessa Baird.


Valli, M. and Dessanay, M. (2011). Microworlds. London: Laurence King.


Wood, S. (2012). Museum of Childhood. Victoria & Albert Museum

WEBPAGES


Levcikova, E. (2022). Fantasy vs. Reality in the World of Young Children. [online] Little Gems Cyprus. Available at: https://www.littlegemsmontessori.com/single-post/fantasy-vs-reality- in-the-world-of-young-children.

ParentMap. (n.d.). Today’s Kids Have Less Freedom Than We Did: Is This Good or Bad? [online] Available at: https://www.parentmap.com/article/kids-less-freedom- independence-previous-generations [Accessed 2 May 2023].

Drew, C. (April 19, 2019). Social Constructions of Childhood – 14 Examples. Helpful Professor. https://helpfulprofessor.com/social-constructions-of-childhood-examples/

Ryu, J. (n.d.). ‘You’re so mature for your age’ isn’t always a compliment. Sometimes it’s from trauma. [online] USA TODAY. Available at: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/health- wellness/2021/11/29/trauma-forces-some-children-mature-here-their-stories/6358716001/ [Accessed 2 May 2023].

JOURNALS

Spector Person, E. and Klar, H. (1994). Establishing Trauma: The Difficulty Distinguishing between Memories and Fantasies. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 42(4), pp.1055–1081. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/000306519404200407.

Good, M.I. (1994). The Reconstruction of Early Childhood Trauma: Fantasy, Reality, and Verification. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 42(1), pp.79–101. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/000306519404200106.

 

Jirata, T.J. (2018). Folktales, Reality, and Childhood in Ethiopia: How Children Construct Social Values through Performance of Folktales. Folklore, 129(3), pp.237–253. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587x.2018.1449457.