About photos of collection Kids Siergieja Bratkov'a
2009-09-26 @ 00:13:06
Born in 1960 in Kharikiv, Bratkow is praised as one of the most significant Russian-Ukrainian photographers, next to Boris Mikhailov from the older generation.
The series Kids turned out to be the most controversial. It's based on portfolios of children whose parents wanted them to be sent to ad agencies. Not being aware of the reasons and the background behind the photos, one could conclude that they are even paedophilic in nature. The parents who brought their model daughters to photographers did all the dressing-up and make-up by themselves. Not aware of the final effect, they relied on adult fashion shows seen in the mass media, unintentionally making their littel girls look like Lolitas.Indeed, all Bratkow basically did was take the photos of the parents' media-controlled ideas and visions of their children. Asked about the centerpiece of the series, the author himself points to a picture of a girl sitting on the edge of a bath tub and smoking a cigarette. The photo was based on how the girl imagined herself as the adult model she wanted to become in order to fulfil her parent's dreams. And the ideal, according to the girl's imagination, was supposed to look like her cigarette-smokking mommy.
The series Kids turned out to be the most controversial. It's based on portfolios of children whose parents wanted them to be sent to ad agencies. Not being aware of the reasons and the background behind the photos, one could conclude that they are even paedophilic in nature. The parents who brought their model daughters to photographers did all the dressing-up and make-up by themselves. Not aware of the final effect, they relied on adult fashion shows seen in the mass media, unintentionally making their littel girls look like Lolitas.Indeed, all Bratkow basically did was take the photos of the parents' media-controlled ideas and visions of their children. Asked about the centerpiece of the series, the author himself points to a picture of a girl sitting on the edge of a bath tub and smoking a cigarette. The photo was based on how the girl imagined herself as the adult model she wanted to become in order to fulfil her parent's dreams. And the ideal, according to the girl's imagination, was supposed to look like her cigarette-smokking mommy.