Friends – Photographic Expression

Case Studies: Thailand

Children love to take photos of each other and also of themselves. Actually, I did not regard this fact as being of much significance and not really worth mentioning since I was used to such behaviour from previous projects ­ the children fool around and have fun.

Then Gerhild mentioned this fact in one of her e-mails and I re-considered my attitude in this project together with the children. The children mainly took photos of the other children since they wished to take photos of their friends and for them, friends are an expression of the absence of violence. A very admirable trait - that the children were able to articulate, visualize and demonstrate the fact that friends are of such importance ­ not only friends, but people in general, as opposed to objects of material value. Friendship as an expression of the absence of violence ­ an impressive realization.

researcher's comment

All these photographs and text come from research conducted by SOS Children’s Village Hermann Gmeiner Academy. Copyright is reserved and no unauthorized use permitted. Use for non-commercial purposes may be requested. The photographs formed part of a study in children’s photograph expression, using children living in SOS Children’s communities worldwide.