Composites as a visual aid for social commentary

In May 2010 ITN NEWS posted a video onto their youtube homepage telling the story of a toddler from Sumatra who had been addicted to nicotine since the age of 2. 

  

The video garnered much attention in the media for highlighting the perceived faults of the parent’s who introduced the child to smoking.

Inspired by this video was Belgian photographer Frieke Janssen who went on to create a series of portraits of children composed in different era’s for whom it would not have been averse to smoking

Frieke Janssen - Smoking Kids

 Personal Project 

from a young age. Seemingly taking inspiration from the 19^th century daguerreotypes, Jannsens portrait stike an uncomfortable cord for smoking and non-smoking adults alike as the act itself is added to by the fact the children are wearing make-up typical of adults from different societies.

At first gland one might think Frieke Janssen has in fact glamorized the aesthetics of smoking, however the use of  lighting and facial expression suggests the darker side of it.

Visually I think another photographer who uses the idea of the social comment of society is Loretta Lux whose composite images portray the seemingly genetically enhanced subject matter in a mythical utopia on first glance. A closer inspection leads the viewer to question the thin line of genetics and the idea of creating a ‘designer’ baby be it for aesthetic or medical purposes. 

Loretta Lux- Rose in the Garden 2001

Loretta Lux - Sasha and Ruby 2005

Smoking Toddler: http://www.youtube.com/user/itnnews/search?query=baby+smoking

Frieke Janssen - http://frieke.com/#!/projects/

Loretta Lux - Works III and Works V http://www.lorettalux.de/