Children never were what they were

While reading about the different perspectives on childhood, it reminded me of two photographers. Lewis Hine, who photographed child labor in the 19th century and Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and his portraits of Alice Liddell and her sisters.

When I took history of photo a few years back, I wrote a paper on Charles Dodgson's work and the way he portrayed children with an almost adult-like quality. In exchange for him taking their photographs, Dodgson wrote stories for the children, which in Alice Liddel's case, came Through the Looking Glass.

Let me cite myself as a source...

"Much of Lewis Carroll’s photography, as well as his writings include a strong feeling of nostalgia. Perhaps this is a sense of never wanting to grow up, and trying to remain young forever, which is apparent in his children’s stories and poems, as well as his photography. Throughout Carroll’s own childhood, he entertained his classmates by building marionettes and performed conjuring tricks, and continued to have a strong relationship with various child friends later on in life. Carroll had a great eye for the beauty around him and even said that “..For I confess, I do not admire the naked boys in pictures. They always seem… to need clothes: whereas one hardly see why the lovely forms of girls should ever be covered up!” (Cohen, p.229, paragraph 3). Some may find this oddly creepy coming from a grown man, but Carroll considered these children as his friends, and he knew their parents as well."

After rereading the paper I wrote on Charles Dodgson's work, I mentioned about how he often had children sign the photograph he had taken of them. The signature itself gives life and a time line to the subject of the photo. Though these girls are in more mature poses, the signature reminds the viewer of the actual age of the subject.


This similar effect of children taking adult roles appears in Lewis Hine's work, where he documents the work conditions of children in factories in the 1800s.




I'll come back to this later with more thoughts..