Chiwa – Mchinji, Malawi
Shot over a period of 18 months, Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s project Toy Stories compiles photos of children from around the world with their prized possesions—their toys. Galimberti explores the universality of being a kid amidst the diversity of the countless corners of the world; saying, “at their age, they are pretty all much the same; they just want to play.”
But it’s how they play that seemed to differ from country to country. Galimberti found that children in richer countries were more possessive with their toys and that it took time before they allowed him to play with them (which is what he would do pre-shoot before arranging the toys), whereas in poorer countries he found it much easier to quickly interact, even if there were just two or three toys between them.
There were similarites too, especially in the functional and protective powers the toys represented for their proud owners. Across borders, the toys were reflective of the world each child was born into—economic status and daily life affecting the types of toys children found interest in. Toy Stories doesn’t just appeal in its cheerful demeanor, but it really becomes quite the anthropological study.
Stella – Montecchio, Italy
Pavel – Kiev, Ukraine
Arafa & Aisha – Bububu, Zanzibar
Cun Zi Yi – Chongqing, China
Bethsaida – Port au Prince, Haiti
Orly-Brownsville,Texas
Botlhe – Maun, Botswana
Watcharapom – Bangkok, Thailand
Alessia – Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy
Norden – Massa, Morocco
Julia – Tirana, Albania
Keynor – Cahuita, Costa Rica
Shaira – Mumbai, India
Tangawizi – Keekorok, Kenya
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All kids should see this, very moving set of images. Great job!
Wow, what perspective! A beautiful and touching collection, awesome work
Tangawizi – Keekorok, Kenya
This seemed to be the only genuine picture.
This is so beautifully shot and insightful. As the saying goes ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’.
Costa Rica is two words. Don’t you all have fact checkers?
Some of the children don’t have even shoes or decent bed. Very sad :’(
Great photos – it certainly highlights the differences in standard of living – but not necessarily quality of life.
Great job!!! I love photography and this is the kind that i love!
Pavel – Kiev, Ucraina, that should be Kiev, Ukraine (Ucraina in Italian).
pavel is going to be a boss!
Great observations and images.
Will this be published into a book? What a wonderful collection.
Stark contrast between some photos. Last image is the best. Overall, excellent photos.
What perspective! What differences! Great stuff!
Re: Ian’s comment–
I think why you thought that the picture of Tangawizi – Keekorok, Kenya was the only authentic is because he is probably a child not used to cameras, and probably unaccustomed to seeing foreigners. The other kids seemed like they were very accustomed, to varying degrees of showing off in front of the camera–a different acculturation. Re: Gheed’s comment about it being it being sad that some kids don’t have shoes or a decent bed–Life is complex, and children who don’t have shoes or a “decent bed” may have fulfilling childhoods in a way that the poor kids stuck inside, surrounded by plastic and television can’t begin to comprehend. There are different kinds of freedoms.
fascinating. only 1 child had any books with them. also, i found this more a commentary on materialism and gender stereotypes than childhood..
Yes we need to do this with American kids too. Most will have a tough time to narrow it down and then we’ll see the cash value of their possessions will be a lot higher than these children from other countries above.
Wow … well done … I also come from a country where kids have little in life
They’re all genuine.
my kids loved the photos and were not bothered by the obvious materialistic discrepancy. Just having watched the dance documentary “First Position” last night you know how powerful just one image can be, one object or toy. Michaela de Prince became a ballet dancer because one day she saw a magazine with a ballet dancer on the cover…these pictures are so moving because these pictures hold already these tender dreams.
All of you can follow me except Pavel and Stella.
Stella, you seem a little materialistic and Pavel, I don’t like guns.
Incredible. This is poignant, touching and something I want to share. Funny how I am overwhelmed with the sense of wanting to give the little kids with one toy more…like that’ll make a difference to their lives somehow? Sheesh. Very clever.
Love this!
Awesome, goes to show little children are much the same around the world. Stupid grown ups.
What an awesome series!
The little girl from Botswana is so cute. Oh, and the Indian girl loves her some Twilight and Bieber, haha! Totally not judging. I may or may not have had a poster of Justin Timberlake back in the day. When he was in NSYNC. Dear God.
Come on people, “Children From Around The World” and you couldn’t show ONE Black child living in a financially stable environment? Africa is a rich continent and there are a lot of Black millionaire families living in those countries, what’s up?!
@ian totally thought the same thing about the Tangawizi – Keekorok, Kenya
….a bit sad, it seems as though toys have an impact on the personalities of children. The teddy bear gave me a sense that this kid is going to be a very keen person of human awareness…
Of course the only depiction of African children is poverty and destitution.
So… all kids are the same!
What I find an interesting facet of this is that, in the picture of the two children from Zanzibar, I recognise at least three toys that I had when I was a child back in the 80s.
It would be great more examples from Latin America.
Thank you for an inspirational set of photos.
Norden, from Morocco, puts books and notebooks among his most prized possessions. Pavel, from Ukrania, has guns.
no vengo a presumir…pero siendo hijo de creativo de publicidad he de decir que mis años de niño fueron UN PUTO CANTEO comparado con estos pobres, y se me cae la cara de vergüenza
Gheed,
You have literally no way of knowing that. Why jump to that conclusion?
These are adorable. Childhood is universally adorable.
Yet not a book or art supply to be seen in the better off kids’ collection
¡VERGÜENZA!
Why do I feel like one of the children’s parents most likely wanted to show off *all* of her toys instead of letting her choose her favorite…? Hmm…can you guess which one I have in mind…?
Love this photoessay, and others such as James Mollison’s “Where Children Sleep” or Peter Menzel’s “Hungry Planet.” I like using these to show other perspectives, even to little kids (or adults!).
DAGGOM!!.. That kid’s got Skelator!!!..
Frackin’ Skelator!! For real!!
I’m so deeply moved right now.. To see another kid in a 3rd world country sporting a skelator action figure just amazes me.. I mean, I knew He-Man was the shiznit, but I thought I was alone all these years.. To think, others in the world share this love for He-Man (and the Masters of the Universe)..
It’s nice to know that no matter how many countries we bomb, or Central Banks we set up, a child’s love for He-Man will never die..
.. Unless Obama blows that kid up with a drone attack.. Not cool O.. Not cool.. Go blow up some smurfs lovin’ kids or something.. or stop blowing up kids all together..
Yeah.. anyway.. Skeli-forking-tor.. Outstanding!
I remember real looking cap guns. Those were a lot of fun. And playing with sticks and mud and army men.
Gran trabajo, una muestra del fracaso del humanismo y como el sufrimiento de unos es la ganancia de otros, parasitos que viven del trabajo, sudor y sangre de los indefensos.
A word for those who want to show other’s why we should give other government’s money..
Check this out!!
America 1920’s….
http://www.stockpickssystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/great-depression-family.jpg
We managed to bring the poor out of those ruts and move on.. Perhaps the people of those poor countries should find a way as well?
The kids are so cute! They make me remember about my childhood. I did not have many toys, only some small hard plastic dolls but I had a wonderful childhood when I could run everywhere, climb up to every tree, rod my bike up and down on the road. Parents did not have to keep eyes on us. We were happy at that time. Children also need more safe places to play. They do not need new toys, they just need toys. We can share used toys to them.
Chad, Fowzia… you guys know Morocco is a country in Africa, right?
My first impressions of these photos are that they feel staged and reinforce stereotypes. If the response to this is: “Well, that’s just reality.” Then the whole series just tells us something we already know. What is interesting about this? That’s my question.
All one and a especially child needs is love n care, u might have 10oo barbies n the most beautiful room, but feel alone n do not have parental love, or even be abused. Protection, feeling loved n safe is what a child really needs, its better to ne hungry but hugged by ur loving mom than with a full stomach annandoned, abused and scared…
Hey Fowzia you do realize that Zanzibar is in Africa, right? Those girls don’t look destitute and poverty-stricken to me.
This is a real example of nature v. nurture. Their toys and attitudes twords them are a direct influence of their society and surroundings. Very interesting and beautiful!
There’s something startling about these pictures (aside from the obvious) and I couldn’t put my finger on it…I had to look at all of them twice to realise that it’s the fact that most of the kids (if not all) look like miniature adults instead of looking like regular children. Especially Stella and the chinese girl. It makes me feel awkward.
Wow. Very touching, moving and thought-provoking. Will be showing these to my children when they get home from school.
THANK YOU!
x
For those complaining that the black children depicted aren’t from financially stable backgrounds or more wealthy, at least black children were depicted. There aren’t any depictions of Natives, whether poor or not, at all.
Yeah Kadie, except that kid in Monaco.. … All the poor kids though, they all had books and art supplies….. No.. wait.. They’re kids too.. Their favorites are toys as well.. Crazy world…
I’m surprised no one has honed in on the kid with all the guns… I’m more surprised they didn’t label it as “Texas” or something..
this is when yu need to show that africa means poverty and europe( the home of the photogragher) people lives easily and comfortably. this is so biased and im touch as an african who love his continent
Amazing how precious a toy can be. Makes me want to give some of the sweet children a few more great toys! Lovely photography.
I find the picture of Pavel overwhelmingly disturbing… he doesn’t even look like a child – a hardened adult face already.
@Fowzia, the kids from Zanzibar looked middle-class to me.
How about one pic from Boone county, WV?
A lot of adults are assuming a lot about children! Perhaps the “materialistic” kid has many toys to choose from and genuinely loves and appreciates them all. The “genuine” child may have tons of toys and THAT one was his favorite. The pictures of children and their prized possessions are absolutely adorable, but there is nothing like a bunch of adults with an internet connection to sully something so innocent and pure.
Una excelente mirada a las diferencias económicas, sino también a la educación que los padres les dan a sus hijos, eso demuestran sus juguetes. Felicitacione por la labor realizada.
I saw skeletor!
I wonder if the parents of these children influenced the choices of things that the children are surrounded by for the picture? Or if they really had complete choice over what they really wanted to share? Anyway I love the idea though! I also agree with the comment that toys are often gender specific and that was clearly shown in some of these pictures.
This is incredible, thank you for sharing. Very moving.
Fowzia, the little girls in Zanzibar looked fairly well-off to me. And the little girl from Botswana, she only showed one toy, but what we can see of her house looks pretty nice. Remember, it was to show their favorite toys, not their only toys; for all we know she has many more but just likes that one best.
AMAZING set of photos. Will be sharing this link on my kids charity related site http://www.mighteekids.com to show how some kids are less fortunate.
@Gheed Murtadi – Most of them are standing on their beds so I’m sure they took their shoes off.
It is not the number of possessions, in this case toys which would create a good feeling of playing or a world of fantasy or imagination in a child. A child can enjoy only one toy and create a whole world around it. Many children with too many toys feel bored and don’t know how to use their toys and just collect them instead. Children of the World need good education and lots of reading material in order to both enjoy their moments and grow as fine, good-hearted and responsible, helping individuals!
so many emotions… powerful.
This would be an interesting premise using 80 year olds.
And see what people value toward the end of life!
Photographs, perhaps?
I like the little boy from Morocco and the two who have a favorite monkey. Everybody needs a monkey! Of course they’re not wearing shoes. They’re little kids, barefeet are the best!
The Ukrainian kid is either going to the most bad ass mofo on the planet or going to murder hundreds of innocent people.
I like Pavel and Watcharapom. They both made me smile
DFerreira, no “we” didn’t. There are still desperately poor people in America, there are still plenty of people in America now living like those people in the picture then.
And “those poor countries” pretty much all had their resources repeatedly stolen and had America and their lackies making rules set against them. Haiti? America decided to take away their main food source (pigs), replace them with pigs that were far more expensive to upkeep and requires them to buy expensive feed and supplies from American businesses and forced to take out more out more debt, from American banks, to exist, to survive. How dare “we” tell them to pull thsemselves out of it when “we” are taking away their livelihoods to make our own.
More more more!!
To borrow words from other comments — this is an incredible, beautiful, powerful series. Still, I can’t help but wonder that there might be a kid somewhere in the world, maybe Toronto, maybe New York City, whose most prized possession is an iPhone or an iPad. And this thought frightens me as much as the kids’ expressions and the stark economic disparity move me in this series of portraits.
@ Leond … a friend was a super pacifist … owned a chain of whole foods groceries. She finally gave up not giving her boys toy guns because they would make guns out of even a twig. I was super into guns and military things when I was a kid … and I’m very much against any type of violence, and I still own a few target pistols.
The Indian girlk might have a lot of stuff and pictures of R-Patz on her wall but amongst the better off kids she is the only one who has board games/family games that she can play in a group.
Wow! Great work! Seems quite useful in research.
Love these images – they say so much about us….
http://allphoto.md/content/11148
Moldova. A girl, victim of faimily abuse, with all her property
Kathryn Fourie, I agree – I just wanted to put one more in front of them. Michael Wakefield – I like your idea.
Very powerful images. The amazing book, Material World, did the same sort of effort photographing families around the world with *all* their material possessions. Brrrr.
This is beautiful. Amazing images, great backdrops, touching stories behind each image.
Who chose the toys? On some photo shows that children, but Barbie and guns is more laid for beauty, for the frame. If you come in the house when the kids are playing, it will be much more objective and more natural.
@ Pied Piper. Seriously you are saying this about kids? Get a life! In fact, I think most of you need to get a life. Who cares what the kids picked as their favorite toys? The kid likes guns, so what??!!! A little girl loves her dress up clothes? Who cares????? They are pictures of kids with their toys!! Plain and simple! I think most of you need to stop sticking your nose in other peoples lives and start analyzing yourselves.
Texas is NOT a country.
This is a simple example of how ARROGANT Americans are.
There are people around the world reading this article who DO NOT know where Texas is.
Instead of wrting ‘Orly-Brownsville,Texas’, it would be very humble of the writer to change it to Orly-Brownsville, United States of America
No wonder everyone around the world hates America
totally loved it
I agree with Leslie that some of these kids seem to have actually picked out their favorite things or thing, and some kids, or their parents, seem to have felt the need to lay out absolutely everything they own. Some of these kids are fascinating because the things they chose aren’t what we expect – the farm kid, pictured in front of her family cows, chose toys that were about hard outdoor labor rather than gendered dolls.
To those of you who are angry about these photos, this is probably only a cross section of all the photos. Of course the photographer knows that poverty, wealth, and middle-class people exist in both developed and developing nations. I don’t think it’s wrong that he took pictures of children from various socio-economic statuses. Would you prefer he had only photographed middle-class and wealthy children?
These photos are wonderful. What an inspired idea for a photography project. So much is captured in these images. Thank You.
I am disheartened to read so many comments disparaging the children for things like the socio-economic status they were born into and for prizing some possesions that are powerful reflections of the larger culture or family culture that is their world. Pied Piper, above, calls Stella from Italy “materialistic”. I am not going to guess. She is quite clasically beautiful and surrounded by the same types of things many American girls prize…silk fairy dresses, embellished tutus, dolls…. There is so much prejudice being projected here from the viewers: Assumptions about parents, anger that certain ethnic groups are not portrayed in ways they want to see. I find this almost as interesting as the photos, only much sadder. It is not the photographers job to fulfill your vision of what should and shouldn’t be documented. The toys are brilliant reflections and representations of the world each child lives in. Yes, even Pavel from the Ukraine with his guns. Alessia’s farming toys are just as specific and directly related to her world…at least what little I can see of her world from a single photograph. I was moved to read more about Ukraine, learn about it’s very large military force and political climate rather than bash a child. I encourage you to widen your scope of understanding of the world instead of jumping to quick, baseless judgements.
Pavel struck me as a very angry little soul, this is what war does to children. As for the children in poverty, their special one toy is just as important and much appreciated.
So cute!!! Their toys may be different, but kids are kids wherever you go
The selection of photos seems biased and stereotypical to me. But it is a good idea anyway.
Costarica is Italian for Costa Rica
Remarkable. Thank you for sharing this beautiful work. I’ll show it to my children.
These images play up the stereotypes for the countries. Meh.
Wooow!! Dear hmmm… I am form south america, form Chile, very far away place in ther world… And obviously we know where texas is.
Really loved the zanziba picture form the twin girls, and morocco, this photos explains how have just the things you need and no more makes your life and the life to others so much better and happier.
I love this, thank you for sharing! Love seeing all the kids with their toys
Is all really lost in the world? Big debate here but amazing compositions.
Thank you for letting us see the reality of the lives of children around the world.
The blog is North American, so I expect the author assumed it was safe to assume readers know where Texas is located. Also, when you consider the sheer size of the United States, not putting the state is a foolish omission. Do you really expect someone to know this is the Brownsville in Texas when there are nearly 20 Brownsville’s in the USA? Also, as Fernanda supports, I have found that most people I come across in my travels do indeed know where Texas is. The USA has had a few presidents from there lest you forget not to mention shows like Dallas, which is pretty much a world-wide phenomena. Seriously, Texas is pretty well known whether you like it or not.
Also, Texas is awesome.
The photos are great and go to show that kids probably choose their prized possessions differently than we expect. I bet a few of these kids have electronic devices, but they didn’t choose them as their prized possessions. All the items they chose require imaginative play, which is what is key to developing critical thinking and creative skills. Keep playing, kids!
Fowzia you sound kind of like an ignorant racist. Please educate yourself.
@ Karina- I do not believe this is prejudice being projected. It is undeniable that these images are telling of the world we live in. These children value what they learn from their cultures. It saddens me that all of the African children seem to have less than the children from other cultures. The photos readily present this fact. I agree that it is not the photographer’s job to portray what people want to see but it is our job as viewers to observe what is truthfully being presented. These images reveal some horrible and shocking truths about our world that maybe you are no so comfortable with seeing yourself. I encourage you to widen your scope and be honest with what is being presented to you instead of making quick baseless judgements of others observations that might hold truth.
This is an interesting idea and I would like to see it done using a better research model. It seems anecdotal as opposed to substantial data. I would also question the adult influence regarding the presentation. Examining childhood is an amazing area for study. I hope to see more.
Sincerely,
Diana Jacobs
Fascinating! and to those whining about the captions and/or choice of photos, go look at the whole gallery on his web page for goodness sake and stop complaining.
These aren’t the only Photo in the project people.. maybe you should look at all of them before you judge the work.. not just the few here..
http://www.gabrielegalimberti.com/projects/toys-2/#
So much negativity in the comments. Best that you visit Galimberti’s site and view all of the photos from his project (there are many more there) and read more about it before commenting.
People fail to point out that Stella has three black Barbies among her favorite dolls.
Thank you for this awesome set of pictures representing the different perspectives of children around the world, most with so few toys. Great idea. Beautiful children. Amazing!
And not a single video game in sight… is a good thing! Makes me exited about my next trip to Africa when I get to give the children crayons, and pencils, and all kinds of good stuff!
For those seeing political agenda or materialism.. maybe look past that hype and see the wonderfully captured cultural aspects of the set.
I’m not sure why the African children are portrayed as poor but not European or Asian – there are some African children who are well off, just as there are many Albanian, Thai, Indian and Ukrainian children who are so poor they have no real toys. Check out an Ukrainian children’s home or a poor Albanian village or the slums of Klong Toey. An interesting but certainly not balanced picture.
Some of those photos made me cry. Specially those from Haiti and Kenya.
Cun Zi Yi from China is too cute for words.
Only one likes books?
I want this small girl from Botswana and small Kenyan boy…And their monkeys can be friends ……..
Not lot of things have energy strong enough to stop us in a moment and think………..
When visiting Cambodia, I loved watching children’s joy and creativity when coming up with games to play, such as ‘chase’. They giggled loudly and with such joy at nothing more than running after each other outside. It was beautiful to witness!
The thing that strikes me the most is how happy some of the poorer kids look compared to the more affluent/entitled kids. Oh and the last picture cracked my heart…right in the feeels
Will definitely be showing this to my little one tomorrow!
Powerful imagery!
For those commenting about the parents trying to display their wealth, you should check out the website: it clearly states that the photographer is the one who arranged the toys and posed the children. Also, in response to hmmm: on the photographer’s website, the caption for Orly states “Brownsville, Texas.” The photographer is Italian, so that maybe undermines your “this is all because Americans are so arrogant” argument.
HAHAHAHA GIRLY CAPITALIST BABIES WHINE ABOUT GREAT SLAVIC CHILD PAVEL WITH GUNS!
HE IS BETTER THAN YOU ALREADY ANTI GUN GIRLY MEN! HAHAH GO BACK TO WEARING TIGHT JEANS AND CRYING! PAVEL IS GREAT CHILD OF UKRAINE! HE WILL REMOVE MUCH KEBAB!
I agree with Karina. What’s very interesting here are people’s responses. This is very much a comment about being an adult, and I think your reaction to the pictures says a lot about who you are. Think they’re racist? You probably have a bit of pent up anger about race. Think they’re materialistic? You probably have a bit of pent up anger about that too. What’s striking is that, for the most part, all the children are the same. It was really striking to me how happy they all seemed, and how the their items that represent the future are most important to them, how HAPPINESS is what is most important to them. If you reacted the same, thinking “wow these are gorgeous children”, then you probably have a bit of pent up optimism about the world in you.
There are lot of different type of worlds and this is our world, not matter which country. Those children represent our world, think about it.
LOve
To those commenting on the number/type of toys depicted…unless the parents were butting in with their opinions you really can’t judge anything based on the toy(s) the child picks. We are a middle class family in the Unites States and my kids have an overload of toys. My youngest son’s (age 4) favorite toy right now is a giant cardboard box. My oldest would, I’m positive, include in his choice a ratty stuff tiger that would make some of you think “that poor child needs some toys.” Yet I assure you, he most certainly does not.
In a way I think this would have been more powerful if each child had had to narrow it down to one or a fixed (very small) number of possessions, so that the focus was more on the child and what he/she most treasured, eliminating the quantity comparisons.
some of the people commenting have gone full retard.
seriously, what sort of dicked up “everyone is exactly the same and if you show real people you are a horrible monster” world do you live in?
i mean come on. these are great pictures showing kids being kids, and jackasses start talking about how racist it is because the black kid looks poor or some crap?
could be the happiest kid in the world, but im sure he is super glad that some random assbag feels so sorry for him, because you know, he must just have a terrible life according to assbag liberals who think they need to point out to everybody that being black is automatically bad or something.
go out side and practice falling down if thats what these pictures did.
i think its awesome seeing little bits of life from different parts of the world. thats because im not a dick and can accept the fact that some people are poor, some are rich, lots are in between, and so what. thats life. anyone can be happy with the life they live.
and for the “not everyone knows texas bla bla bla thats why the world hates america” moron. please make sure you practice your falling down in traffic.
very touching, insightful… ALL children need to be comfy and happy… and it doesn’t take a lot… if we could/ would only spread what we have around….
Amazing idea reflects the pure pride of children with what they have even if it is limited and shows that really the child is a child everywhere and even a small thing like a toy could affect his whole role in life.
I don’t think each pictures shows the entirety of each child’s toy collection.
These are great photos! I enjoyed them.
one person said that they could not believe that some kids didn’t even have shoes on. Did anyone notice that there is only one kid with shoes on that you can visibly seeing no its not the guy from Tx.
Whilst I think this is a fantastic concept I must say that it is promoting a rather old school mentality about Africa and the developing world. Granted poverty still exists in large pockets around these regions, there are also vast amounts of very well to do people many even wealthier than people in the developed world. Your depictions of Kenya, Malawi, Zanzibar (Tanzania), Botswana, or at that Morocco skew very much to the extreme poverty side of the argument. I would encourage you to also show the other side of the argument considering the countries also have some of the fastest growing economies around the world and at that, rapidly expanding middle classes with growing expendable income (see reports from the likes of IMF, The Economist, World Bank, Bain, McKinsey etc.)
Apologies if this sounds harsh, merely trying to encourage a balanced perspective. Good work with the concept though!
For the record, out of the African children depicted, the Zanzibanian and Moroccan photos are clearly of affluent children. Perhaps physical toys are not a priority for their parents, but they have nice clothes and nice housing. Also, we may consider the Kenyan Maasai boy poor, but his family does not count wealth in material goods. They count it in livestock.
Are they all standing on their beds? If so, some of the beds are sad.
Nossa, como há desigualdade e valores tão díspares…belo trabalho, nos faz refletir sobre como estamos agindo com as crianças que são o futuro…
They’re all genuine, for crying out loud. They’re kids, and they’re genuinely happy to show off their stuff. Oh, and btw, only one child IS wearing shoes. Dunno ’bout you, but when I was 7 that was the first thing to go when I walked in the door.
All awesome shots ~ thank you!
You should make this into a children’s book! Really wonderful.
This is one of the most beautiful shoots I have ever seen. Very touching. I’ve been to many countries and I can attest that children no matter where they are from are always children first
Oh great the liberals are moaning about cis genderism again.
No morons, little boys don’t like playing with dolls and little girls don’t like playing with guns, so stop making them!
I saw great effort to give children of various economic status exposure from the point of view of the photographer, as I was hoping not to see much of, I think the arranging and posing was done to tell a specific story, of course, there are cultures that smile, and cultures that don’t, cultures that exalt the value of a son over a daughter, cultures that see children as more of an economic benefit, and so on and so on, and we each bring all of our own prejudices… But, then I was rewarded by seeing every child I have ever seen, they are living in their own circumstances, some believing they are the kings and queens of their world, as I think they should, some awkward and bewildered and unsure, as so many are, and some a bit world worn, but, still proud to show all that they have, because they feel special. And yes, the young man from Kenya has more of a story than a single picture can capture, or a thousand words can explain. Well done. Simply Lovely. I can’t wait to see your other collections. Your travels were no doubt rewarding and heartbreaking.
Ian, they are all genuine. That is the point. Just because one seems meager, that does not mean it is anymore genuine than the next. This is a wonderful idea. All children should see this. It is a wonderful way to explain to children many aspects of culture, socioeconomics and wants/needs… along with so many other facets of life. Wonderful.
Bon travail, mettant très bien en évidence les différences culturelles qui peuvent exister aux quatre coins de notre planète…
Le fait de pouvoir dégager un aspect critique à ces photographies est tout aussi intéressant.
En espérant que de plus en plus de reportages dans cette optique fasse le buzz…
merci et bon vent
I was especially touched by the picture of Tangawizi in Kenya and so delighted by Botlhe in Botswana.
this isn’t honest photography. it’s just perpetuating cultural stereotypes to manipulate emotions. kids in africa are all poor, and we’re to see them as noble, sad little creatures who need to be saved from their africanness. kids in eastern Europe have violent ubringings. american kids are ever so wholesome… their play doesn’t reflect a violent society or a gendered society or exreme poverty or a materialistic society, or any of the other negative stereotypes depcticted here. what’s that about? go take a photo of kids on a first nations reservation in the states. or a politician’s kid in Kenya
andrew I think it’s reasonable to have some ‘pent up anger’ toward racism and materialism in the world. in fact I’m impressed by how many people are looking at these photos with a critical mind and seeing the racist and materialistic undercurrents, instead of just blinding accepting the ‘look at the cute kids. it’s all so cute’ aspect. I would’ve thought more people would opt for that route, instead of really giving it some thought.
Honestly i think this whole thing is bullshit and was done with the worse of intentions. I think it’s a bad representation to put pictures of a kid from an ORPHANAGE or POOR CLASS next to pictures of kids whose lifes are better financially. If you are posting a pic of a kid from the MIDDLE CLASS, they all SHOULD BE FROM THE SAME CLASS. Ans suspicious enough that all those kids who look POOR are BLACK. I know kids in KENYA who are living much better than that ITALIAN kid.
Oh, and I have never met anyone who had access to a fancy computer and internet who didn’t know where Texas was. And I’ve been around. Everyone wants to be a Cowboy at heart. It’s just how it is. Trying to make assumptions about their economic status from these pictures is assuming far, far too much. As the lady above said, if my child were to pick out her most cherished toys or items from one year to the next, I can only imagine the pride and joy she would have on her face as she shared things that I might have wished hadn’t made it out of her toy chest. At age 4 she spent a few weeks sleeping in a makeshift bed that had been a TV box bottom, why? Well, because it was Way more awesome to snuggle down in there with her blanket and fuzzy night-night kitty, than sleep in her little princess toddler bed. All I could think was, Geez, people would think we made her sleep in a box and deprived her of the bed, but, oh well. Pick your battles…. at least she was happy and sleeping! And it would not have mattered if her father and I were making 18k a year or 180k a year. Her perception of her own world was all that mattered. Enjoy these snapshots of innocence, they flash by so fast. Tomorrow any single one of these child’s worlds’ will be shattered by violence, illness, death… and none of these things care how much or how little you have. And any of them might remember this moment, remember that for a moment, they were very, very special to someone, and take that with them throughout their lives, and do something great, if not for humanity, at least for their communities, for their families, for another heart. No one hates America as much as the wretched self-hating Americans do, except for the ones they enable by empowering. Why do you think so many fight so hard to get here?
Ehh, it’s a great idea for a photo series, but honestly the execution is pretty awful and not at all imaginative, barring the last one. Looks like all of the pictures were taken with a point and shoot and direct flash.
Thank you for shooting from your heart, your passion telling a great story. You did a wonderful thing.
This really moves and inspires me!
Love Love Love It!!!
Beautiful! I grew up poor but happy. Don’t feel sorry for the poor kids, they have just as much fun and joy as the kids with more toys. The amount of things we have are not a measurement of happiness at any age. All these pictures made me smile but I especially liked the proud demeanor of the Indian girl on her pedestal of board games and of course Virginia with her bat collection!
What beauty in these faces!!! I write for children, and this collection is inspiring… I would love to read more about the insights gained as Mr. Galimberti interacted with these little people. Thank you for this post…
Very humbling indeed wonderful pics
Interesting to see the type of toys that these children have. It makes me want to box up half the toys that my grandchildren have and send them to some of these kids. What I hate seeing are these little girls with all their Barbie dolls at such a young age. Baby dolls yes…. but Barbies are a poor example of what a woman should be!
I like playing with guns.
As someone from Malawi, it is easy to tell that that kid from Mchinji (Malawi) does not own the toys that are before her. Those toys were brought by the person who took the picture. So, your whole explanation that kids from poor regions were possessive with their toys is invalid. Poor kids were less possessive because they knew for sure that those toys were not bought by their parents – but by some total stranger!
I love Barbie, it’s just a toy. Skelator is rad, my brother had the full skull castle and he-man. I would bring my Barbies over to the castle (and she-ra) of course and we would kick the boys ass. This is art, with cute kids, for fun, why peck it apart? The gun kid freaked me out and I do want to send toys to the kids that only had a few. I would like to see sheet forts from kids around the world.
In 1994, the book, “Material World” took the simple but effective concept to include ALL a family’s worldly goods put on display outside their home. Every teenager (and adult too) needs to see the REALITY of what life is like around the world inside each nation’s “average” family. Cannot recommend this enough. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/486749.Material_World
The contrast between the Brownsville, TX kid and the Haitian photo above it is really cool. The Brownsville kid is “America poor” with few toys and a fairly plain room, but the walls are finished and there is a carpet as opposed to the plywood floors and the tarpaulin for a floor pictured above. Even America poor is head and shoulders above a lot of the others. Don’t know if that contrast was meant to be accented in the arrangement presented here or not, but I found profoundly effective.
Alessia – Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy may certainly come from more wealth than many of the other children, but I feel more sadness for her than the rest. The others mostly have items that can be involved in creative play, or that act as a “best buddy”. Alessia only has toys related to labor, and her demeanor seems to reflect a life of work without much play. I hope that I’m wrong about that.
And Pavel…there’s little hope for that child!
Really wonderful idea. The Italian girl is really cute (they all are) but I like how diverse her Barbie doll set is! The girl in India seems sharp with all of her board games. I love that Snoopy is a world traveler and popular still!
my son will read and look at each picture. this is very moving.
Some of you people make me grieve for the human race. Complaining about class fairness, race, parental manipulation, grandstanding, paranoid fears of emotional blackmail—jeez. It’s just pictures of kids with their favorite things. Take some joy from seeing the common ground here, the pictures show that kids are kids regardless of background or political, cultural or financial constraints that adults JUST LIKE YOU eventually promote in the name of your own short-sighted prejudices. I think the comments section reveals much more about the situational problems of the world than the pictures themselves ever could have.
Make a children’s book out of these photos! little biographies and pics!
Malawi kid……….so sad!!!
Pavel………….future gangsta.
Thailand kid…………motorcycle champion.
I really enjoyed all the pictures, the difference in their choice is amazing the girl from Italy I think I like her best she picked shovels for something she can use to build something
Dear Karina,
Thank you for your comments. You speak the truth. Stop idealizing what a child should play with. These children don’t always have a choice- talk to their parents instead. And no one else is commenting on how the little Italian girl’s toys are work-related toys. Interesting…
Fantastic photos. This reminds me of Peter Menzel’s book Material World: A Global Family Portrait. What these pictures say to me is that context is just as important as culture. There are 2 photos from Italy…in one the girl likes very girly things in the other she probably lives in a more rural setting as her prized possessions are cows and farm related toys. So the context of where each photo was taken within a country likely tells you more than just the country itself.
Oh this pictures are so moving, excellent job! its so sad to see the difference, and it touch my heart, with how little we can be happy or
its enought we dont need much, and how you might have much and other almost nothing! great job in deed, my favorites pics are Chiwa and the twins Arafa and Aisha…also is so sad to se that pic with that boy and his pistols and guns, violence since little what will he become in the future.
Felicidades !very touching work Gabriele!
Has anyone noticed theThai kid’s T-Shirt….
It should be on engrish.com
this was lovely.
Fabulous narrative going on here – love photojournalism
This absolutely breaks my heart.
“Sonopy” shirt for the win.
@JayKay – So True!
I love them all! Well done, beautifully captured, I love the way you placed the kids & their toys in different areas in their homes
This must have been a wonderful project to undertake, I hope you continue to grow this collection, I would love to see more in the future.
I wonder if whether children where able to choose their most preciated objet they had choosen a toy: maybe a photo? a souvenir? kids mostly spend much more time with objets which are not toys.
It was surprising also not to see any football ball!
The last kid looks like the cutest thing on the planet.
There are some crazy comments going on here. I just found it very interesting and the children all seemed HAPPY. That to me, is more important than anything else.
Wouldn’t it be nice to mix them up a bit and get the kids with too many toys to share with the ones who have very little!
Awesome photos! I love them!! Very touching….
The little guy from Ukraine with his guns can be an idealist fighter against thiefs, murderers, tirants, harassers of all kind.
He is just practicing what I’ll of us should do retaliate against violent and coercive people who initiate the use of force.Defend our selves is a legitime right.
Most of those kids suffer because there is none to defend and promote individual rights such as liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness.
Good concept for photography. It’s interesting to see that the kids have themed toys — motorcycles, gardening tools and a doll with clothing — and the ones who are still smiling with barely anything.
Look at the first and the last one… If those 3rd world parents can’t afford at least a clean bed for their children, they deserve that FILTHY sh1tholes they live in!! Poor kids, lazy useless bastards…
Excellent work!
These are great, the kids with the least look happiest!
so the kids in Africa are all poor????!!!
You did a wonderful job catching the spirit of all the children. Great project! Thank you for sharing your work. I really don’t understand the haters in these comments, but they don’t seem to be very fulfilled themselves. You, however, are marvelous! Don’t ever stop sharing!
these photos are full of bias. the “one kid” can’t represent the whole county. he needs to present more examples!!! generalization can cause some discrimination or “fairy-tale”..
Born and raised in a rural country, i didn’t own any this kind of toys because my village was my house, banana trees, flowers, dust, stones , wood were my toys!crowds, sun, mountains. Interesting pictures for a western eye. In Africa or Latin America kids need less possessions because the whole world belong to them. What do you play with during vacations? Nothing you go out to explore.
Born and raised in a rural country, i didn’t own any this kind of toys because my village was my house, banana trees, flowers, dust, stones , wood were my toys!crowds, sun, mountains. Interesting pictures for a western eye. In Africa or Latin America kids need less possessions because the whole world belong to them. What do you play with during vacations? Nothing you go out to explore. Cute children thought , the security guy from Kiev! Interesting ! I loved the smiling african kid from Morocco
Anyone else think that Ukraine kid looks like the next mass murderer? Or is it just me?
When I first moved to the tiny village in Guerrero Mexico (There were only four cars in the village). They would make beautiful kites out of plastic bags left over from marketing and sticks. They had a blast and their play was jubilant and inclusive. Mostly they played running games and gathered and told stories and sang. Now, since tourism has arrived along with dvd’s ipods etc, American movies and commercial music, they have lots of readymade toys. They spend their time glued to their cell phones texting nonsense to their friend on the next block or watching facebook vids of funny cats. Amazingly, no one ‘can sing’ anymore. Only people like Justin Beiber can do that. Progress?
All the hate on Pavel makes me angry. If you people came from the country where guns mainly associated with gangs and violence it doesn’t mean that out is the same all around the world. In Ukraine and Russia every little boy is a future defender of his country and his mother and sisters. We are thought to be tough. It is common to see a mother telling her little soon who just stumbled and fell not to cry because he is a future soldier and soldiers don’t cry. Guns are illegal in Russia and Ukraine and you won’t find any in more than 90% of households. So there is much less gun violence than in, for example, US.
It’s sad to see kids with dirty clothes, no shoes or a decent bed to sleep.
Very Interesting!! Thank You for sharing these photos! I will share this link as well.
Pavel is a bad ass
I agree with the last comment, that all children should see these. They make the viewer feel a range of emotions, which is very telling in the power they have. Thank you for making this work and for sharing.
I love this.
Very much.
My son gets home from school in about 45 minutes. I’m going to show him these pictures. I hope he takes the same profound messages from them I saw in them. Thank you.
Wonderful insight into these children’s lives. Such a good idea to show us this! Many thanks
I’ve gone through the photos over and over again.. Some really saddened me,(wish everybody gets together to better the childhoods of these kids) but on the whole, I can say is whoever took these shots did a remarkable job and should publish them into a coffee table book so all can appreciate them….
What precious children. It honestly brought tears to my eyes to see little ones, with so little, especially without decent shoes, clothes, or beds to sleep in. In reality, children who have so little, appreciate the little things much more than those who have too much- and in a way, that’s a gift in itself. However, seeing these little ones, makes me with that there was some way to get an address, to ship something to them!!!! Please email me if anyone has any info @ brandibug08@yahoo.com (That’s zero
why we adult can”t think like children. they are same allover the world.
The world would have been so wonderful.
There are five photos of children in Africa, and they are not all poor in appearance.
As someone who has done a lot of documentary photography in Africa, I’m betting the toys with the children Malawi and Kenya were given to them by the photographer. The toys look sparkling new. Families living in such poverty in these places usually never have money for toys. The kids however are very creative and fashion balls, kites, tops, and even cars with moving wheels out of vegetation and trash. Why not be honest to the situation and show these kinds of items?
Julia – Tirana, Albania.
Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe, and the picture doesnt represent that.
enjoyed the photos and the comments. we all have our own perspectives on the world and how the world should be or is. the emotion here from a few simple pictures of cute kids and their favorite possessions, the emotions from the comments …..and the comments on the comments. wow. nice work. I wish I had time share comment on all the comments and on each picture. In a few years each child will have a different favorite ….it would be interesting for the photographer to go back and repeat the pictures over the years to see the changes and the choices . cute kids. what a fun project. thank you again.
What beautiful photographs! This is an amazing project. And the twins are too cute.
These images bring us all closer. There is such love for children and the gifts they treasure are not all so different are they? Great job with this shoot.
Aside from all of the above, mythoughts immediately went to, are these depictions of what the child will be as an adult. I.e, Stella will be very diverse in life and interacting w/ others; Pavel, a terrorist or law enforcer. Other boys liked cars and would own a collection along w/ garages, or perhaps raced in the 500 Indy car. And then some, yes may continue to be destitute for lack of education and exposure for their imagination.
I am sure I have misspelled words in my comment, but is that the point!
These photo’s actually made me feel sick.
Stupid idea with a fucking twisted meaning
Very moving, and telling. I am showing this to my children this afternoon. I found the one in Kiev to be a little disturbing. Children often play with, or mimic, what they are familiar with seeing daily. Could be that his father is in the military, or a police officer, but kind of scary in my opinion.
Beautiful shots and meaningful messages.
What is the age range of the children? I wonder what this would look like with more countries and where each child was the same age and gender…. I would be very curious about differences versus universality of some of the childhood play experience at a specific snapshot in time.
What’s disturbing to me is how gendered these images are…what we teach our children!…and the boy from Kiev! My goodness, what is his environment teaching him?
@hmmm you sound like you have little man syndrome. First of all, I have been all over the world and lived in one of the poorest African countries. Not once have I met someone, no matter what social class, that did not know that Texas is in America or have some kind of thought to associate with it.
Secondly, the title of this is “children from around the world” not “children in different countries”. Besides, Texas was, and still should be a country, so who really cares? Maybe you should stop feeling so inferior about where you’re from and take a little pride in it instead of bashing those who do.
Great inspiring pictures, shows a lot about children and their prized possessions.
So moving, I loved these images! What a terrific project!
Well done!
Notice the China and India children have toys that help them learn?
And I agree about Dunia’s post–my daughter was raised on a sailboat and her favorite toys were the shells I had collected–she knew the name of each one and played with them as if they were people!
Thanks alot for sharing these pictures there great.
I like the Toys Stories project. And I am very impressed by the meanings that it can project. For example, in most areas, the possession from one kid usually has only one theme, like Barbies from Italy, guns from Ukraine, dinosaurs from Texas, motorcycles from Thailand, tools from Italy farm, Barbies again from Albania, cars from Costa Rica, Snoopy dogs from India, but can you see any theme from the Chinese kid? Yes maybe, they look diverse, but most of them should not be called toys, but tools, for educational purpose, which are compulsory from the parents, but not from her true hobbies.
And I am a little bit disappointed by the all commercial toys that are played by the kids all over the world and are less imaginative and original. How much I do want to see some toys that are homemade by their parents.
Sad to think, that an eastern European is the one ‘owning’ toy guns, and not other nationalities…
I would LOVE to see a photo essay exactly like this done for the children of Gaza / Palestine. Yeah and what a contrast it would be to include the children of terrorist Israel, maybe help the children to have some compassion and teach them to stop killing innocent Gaza people for a nice change.
Gabrielle Thompson, I did notice that “the China and India children have toys that help them learn” – and that only the Chinese child has toys that help her learn by herself (and so many!) These are the kind of toys I try very hard to give.
Guys, those who put the label on Pavel, have you ever been to Eastern Europe? Have you ever read any books on culture, history, mentality of people of those countries? First educate yourselves and then you will see that Pavel is not going to be a psychopath or sociopath. It is just a faze in development and upbringing . Life there is really tough. The boys there are taught to be tough. They have to learn from their childhood to protect themselves and their families and their Motherland . Playing with guns is part of it. In fact very few posses real weapon in Ukraine. As adults boys/men posses strong spirit and are not afraid to confront hooligans in street or an enemy on the line of fire. They are prepared due to their upbringing for taking responsibility for their own life and for their families. A rare thing that I see among infantile western men by the way.
I thought this pictures were inspiring. It is very interesting you can see kids from all over the world and all of them love toys. It doesn’t matter how many or how much they cost. I think in countries like America it is the parents that are hung up on giving their children everything. That is why children in the so call free world really aren’t so free. They learn from a very young age to keep up with the Jones and want what someone else has or die trying to get it.
If you click at the beginning of the article (the photog’s name) you can go to his website and see all the images. There are many more.
Stunning and amazing. Incredible. Best photo series I have seen in a long time. So well done, smart and respectful.
I heart Botlhe – Maun, Botswana, not only she is adorable, but she looks happy and love the photo composition
These pictures really made me sad and made me apreciate the stuff i have
.
I’m sorry this world is so shitty, i wish i could share my stuff with unfortunate children.
I usually give money to the poor and stuff, but i’m an unemployed student, don’t have that much to give in the first place.
I wonder what kind of parents buy guns and weapons as toys for their kids. This is what I call bad parenting.
Botlhe is so adorable if you imagine her carrying that big monkey around. These kids make me smile.
Im sure with broader research you could have found a much better variety of images, including girls who have toy guns, and boys who have some dolls.
The images are very beautiful but absolute cliches.
Well, cute, but never mind our feeling it’s cute, if we don’t change things the inequalities will get bigger. Siding with the status quo reinforces the system where 1 in 8 is always hungry and children die. Different issues for different children, but you shouldn’t find it too difficult to find a campaigning NGO website rather than one that simply puts sticking plasters on problems with increased aid. My favourites in the UK are http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk, wdm.org.uk, and christianaid.org.uk.
So many judgements and assumptions. First, anyone who commented about the diversity of the project needs to actually look at the whole project. Your issue is actually with the diversity represented here. There’s much more to be seen.
Second, yeah Pavel’s favorite toys are guns. He also has a police hat. Maybe his favorite game is cops and robbers with his brothers. That game is nearly universal. When i was little we played IRA- half the kids led guerilla attacks on the other half, trying to avoid capture and being sent to “jail”. And when we were being especially vicious we ’shot’ eachother by pelting crabapples as hard as possible. Yeah, the details are culturally specific, but who hasnt played cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, jedi and sith? I’ve never seen a kid play those games without weapons.
Very touching photos… I must have dust in my eyes… vision kind of blurry… fortunately I am too old and crusty for these to be tears…
These kids must be the first to ever put their toys like that.
Too staged for my taste, which rips the soul out of the images.
Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but yes, children in Africa are poor. So are their parents, their families and their countries. What amazes me is that you people think that just because they don’t have remote controls, ipads and skinny jeans they are not happy. Yes there are rich africans but look at the WHO and IMF stats… the rich are few, the poor are many. Why would a photographer who is trying to relay the truth, publish photographs that skew the reality.
really great series…….fantastic imagery simply stated……some of the best photos I have seen in a long time.
Very nice pictures, are they open access? Can I download some of them for teaching purpose? Thank you
Cool toys! Interesting to see what cultural influences come into play with each selection.
Also, there is no direct correlation between the number of material possessions and happiness. That is a western society myth. So please – spare these children your pity, it is not warranted.
I simply loved this depiction of children and their treasures. Today, I tied it into a post I created for http://www.lifeschoolinc.wordpress.com I hope it helps to fuel the awareness of this photographers’ works and the insight and delight they provide on a global and personal scale. Should you have any questions or require any edits/alterations to the post, please feel free to connect. Thank you! Jennifer
This series actually made me choke up. The photographer did an excellent job of conveying emotion and mood. It’s amazing how much of an insight can be gained into culture through the toys of it’s children!
I would love to know if the parents of these children know their pictures are now readily available for pedophiles and child porn stars? Like someone commented these are reinforced stereotypes. Take for example that kid from Malawi, the toys were just placed & then told to stand still. I have worked with people from the West & I know their intentions. I live in Europe and we have poor kids here. Just recently the BBC aired a documentary called ‘America’s Poor Kids’ I suggest the photographer go shoot American kids and come and show them here. As for the kid from Malawi or that from Kenya I would like to know if the ethical principles were allowed. I am an African and if not I will alert the respective governments. African people cannot continue being laughing stocks. Why didn’t you take the picture of a kid from a rich family? Why?
As an adult, the things most important to me are my husband, my dogs and my cat…I can’t call them my possessions per se, but I am most proud of them and can’t live without them. This was a fascinating article and I am surprised at the juxtaposition…
Very interesting photos. Although I dislike the framing. Why not instead ask the children to take a picture of what they value most in their life, or what they love, instead of what they value most amongst what they *own*. We might then see pictures of friends, parents, teachers, communities, landscapes, animals, etc. The question itself kind of demands a materialistic answer.
What’s up with all the Black children being depicted as being poor? Seriously? You couldn’t have at least one Black child from a well of family?
Extremely moving photos. Really makes you think twice about how materialistic people can be. The children with just the few small items made me cry. So sweet….Makes me want to pack up all the extra things I have and send them to those children.
Lovely Photos Just Amaizing Littles &I love kids more than god thankyou very much
Awesome idea and captivating shots.
Guns don’t kill people. Pavel does.
These are such fabulous images. Thank you for sharing them. Is there somewhere the full collection can be viewed?
I try to remind my children of this daily! In the US our children are marketed to at such a young age and think they need so much to be happy. We often talk about children around the world that have one toy, that is their prized possession and your photos show it all! I love it!
Keep up the awesome job! I will show my children tomorrow!
Fantastic – thank you! will share it with parents and kids in South Africa on Jozikids and Kznkids!
The compositions of the photographs are wonderful, but I think that the peaceful state of the children was not captured or made good enough. If kids value their toys which then gives them the joy to play equals to happiness, don’t you thing that the photographs were going to appear more rich and peaceful if the children were playing with their toys. I mean after all toys were design for children to play with right?
The pictures keep drawing me back for another look, for more thought. Thank you! I will be talking about the images for a long time.
Fantastic work, and an incredibly moving.
Very cool. It’s like a window into the mind and reality of these kids.
Children are the human races most valuable resource that they have, and I hope we don’t blow it.
Alan
so predictable that people would have these sort of things to say, like that the ones of poor kids are more sinceare, or the ones of boys with guns are stereo typical, or that the photos are too staged or fake in some way, or about materialism… fer cruds sake people, these are photos of real people with real things, dont go getting all opinionated about it. the internet is to blame, if i put up photos like this i would disable comments just so i didnt have to deal with all the egotistical crap, but most people here are just saying thankyou for the beautiful photos so i will say it to … thankyou, lovely idea
The beaming smile on the little girl with the toy monkey with a red bow around its neck is priceless. Just one toy and yet look at that smile.
I agree with Sergei Simonov.
Gostei do trabalho, a primeira criança me chamou muito a atenção, pelo fato das pernas estarem elameadas, sinal que estava batalhando por água antes da fotografia…
The eye stereotypes faster than it can see
My daughter and her husband adopted from Africa, they took toys to give out to the children in the village, these sweet kids did not have a clue as to what a toy was. The smiles on their faces when they got a toy was priceless! My son-in-law captured it all on video. I have a whole new perspective as to the value on THINGS…
Beautiful and touching! How I long to send the child in Haiti and the child in Kenya a big old bag of toys. If there is a way to do so, please contact me.
.
Comovente, é uma pena existir tamanha diferença social no mundo!
I love these photos. I found myself focusing on the children themselves and what the toys they love say about who they are and who they could become. What a wonderful diversity of culture and life – very thought provoking. Thank you.
Sadly, after reading previous posts, I have to add that although there are minds who will conclude that Pavel will grow up to be a terrorist or worse because he loves guns – I disagree. The first thought that came to mind when I saw Pavel and his guns is this: He is a protector, a peace-keeper, a provider. Little boys play differently than girls. Because a child likes to play with toy guns, does not predispose him to become a criminal.
Each photo prtrays so much about each child and is a reminder of the different characteristics of each country. A happy life is not always an afluent life and just because a child has more toys than another does not mean they are happier. I liked the way they were arranged as seperate pieces of artwork – well done.
The little Chinese girl is adorable, almost brought me to tears. Woops, there went a tear. It’s official.
Wonderful! It has to be noted that the children have their own imagination in respect of toys etc. Let them play without obstructions of any one so as to become great personalities in their own interested fields.
Absolutely fantastic, what beautiful photographs that are thought provoking at the same time. I hope they are going to be published in a book with some information about each one, that would be brilliant!
I think people read and assume too much.
Those picture aren’t suppose to represent a whole country or “race”.
Those aren’t necessarily all of their toys, but their most prized ones.
Most kids are shoeless because they are at home. And most seems poor, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t properly tended, that doesn’t mean they are sad.
I think this photos are just very interesting and kinda cute.
If they are amongst their most prized toys, why do so many of the children look like they’re not happy or comfortable and why has someone posed their things for them? The idea is good but could the photographer not have captured these kids more naturally? Regarding the African kids, most are next to toys that look donated from somewhere. What about the wonderful toys they make themselves? Like these http://is.gd/pluw8o
Tangawizi? man, you could at least give him a proper name. That boy’s name is NOT Tangawizi and no one would ever name a kid that.
Resources attribute to the way we are all raised up by our parents. Therefore any child can grow up to be what ever they want with opportunities they have around them. The poorer the nation they come from the less possessions they have.
My favorite was the little Italian girl with her cattle, Moo’s Moo’s.
Great topic for a photo essay. Well done. Some of the comments show the small world view that so many people have while others, they see the postive commentary your images portray. As a third world community development worker, I get it. I’ve supplied mattresses and shoes and school books for those who have nothing. But I also get to live with them in their joy of simplicity, of them just being kids!
Pavel – it’s only one of the million ukrainian children, and his guns doesnt mean that most of ukrainian children loves weapons. The Ukrainians are a peaceful nation.
And I agree with Ramona. Perhaps Pavel wants to be the policeman or something about =)
A very important photographic series, I think. Just looked at it with my daughter (5 years old) who decided that she’d like to give some of her stuffed animals to kids that don’t have any.
Very nice collection. This is just another sad reflection how unfair everything is in this world.
But happy to see that all kids have their toys that the love.
Of course the very first child from Malawi touched my heart. They are all children they all love to play God has given them that right to be a child and enjoy childish things. Once you are a grown up all childishness things are put away.
These images do not stand out to me to be about children. They are more representative of the country in which the child is from. You look at China and the toys are very motor skills based and educational. Africa the toys are sparse because of the region of the economy. The picture with all of the military and gun shot depicts the country! I just do not see this as a combination of pictures of kids- the children all look staged to me and phony- sorry…
Bravo, congratulations for that or the one who had this really good idea, photos are talking, that allows to see and to feel any height of different things. What is on, it is that the feelings of game(set,play) of the children must be equal so to speak for them. A child with many toys or expensive toys has not fun necessarily better with his toys than one children worse off….
The girls from Zanzibar have the same ‘Skeletor’ action figure that I played with every weekend at my grandmas house growing up… so funny how universal toys are to kids. Love the photo set.
There are people that have many possessions and they are a poor people, but there are people that have a few possessions and thae are happiest.
Se me encogió el corazón al ver las inmensas diferencias y las caras de los niños
(
My heart shrink to see the vast differences and children’s faces
(
I just took in the entire picture without placing adult assumptions on the kids, their circumstances, parents, etc. I wish I hadn’t read any of the comments.
thank you for developing this educating and beautiful project !
Great photos. Thinking of using them in my classroom so children get a better sense of the world
As someone who has travelled the world trying to help children in need, I have visited orphanages where the children have no toys or the toys are displayed in the Director’s office on a shelf. However, one of my best memories was seeing kids in a small village inVietnam playing soccer, shoeless, with a rock for ball. I wish you could have seen their smiling faces and heard their laughs. I don’t think its toys that kids need; it’s family to love them. These pictures were fantastic!
Disgusting and reprehensible. Yet another article that seeks to portray Africans as dirt poor and despondent. After having spent nearly a decade on the continent, I can safely say that there are definitely children — lots of them — who own more than one or two dirty toys. The artist should be ashamed for perpetuating such abominable stereotypes.
There’s so much stereotyping in these comments it’s ridiculous.You have to really slow down a little, people. These are children with their favorite toys. Not all of their toys (in most cases), or clothes, or shoes, or bed, or whatever, just the ones they like the most. And in most cases it’s probably safe to add “at the moment” because they’re kids and that’s what kids do. One day they love ham and tomorrow ham is awful and they’ll eat only cheese. Mayby food is not the best example in that case but you’ve got my point.
And what especially irks me is, and i quote: “Guns don’t kill people. Pavel does.” what the hell that’s suppose to mean? Did you even use your brain? It’s a CHILD at that photo. A little boy with his TOYS for God’s sake! And yet there are others who nod and say but his from Eastern Europe as if that actually means anything – if so it only shows your ignorance and lack of knowledge as to what is the case with Eastern Europe. How big and diverse it is. And saying in 2013 that a Ukrainian boy likes guns because of war is plain stupid, what war? My guess you also have rather poor geography background. If it was, let’s say Chechen kid, then ok, they have some rough time there, but seriously look at the map, read some news, go for yourself and see.
People especially Americans (no offence) tend to label as “Eastern Europe” everything east of Germany, even if this is not the case neither geographically nor culturally. And they treat these countries as if they were one being. They’re not. The same goes for Africa. Enormous continent bilions of people and yet here we have only poor black kids. And we assume they have to be hungry, and unhappy, and don’t have shoes ’cause they’re all poor and African. Utter Bullshit. When I found myself few years back in Nairobi, Kenya and saw very western-looking city I was really ashamed that I let all those stereotypes in my head.
There is XXI century all over the world. And the so called civillisation.Only difference is the economical status and this is not something dependent on nationality. There are terribly poor people in the US and there are awfully rich ones. There are rich people in Africa and there are hungry people. And how diffrent it is from your own backyard. Have you seen a homeless person recently? In your better, wealtheir part of the world? Really?
There’s picture from Albania – relatively poorer country, any yet the girl’s room and toys look pretty much like those from the second picture from Italy. Several Barbies on each yet people only stigmatized the Italian girl as shallow. Why?
There’s another girl from Italy – the one with the cattle. You labeled her as a kid with no childhood who has to work in such a young age, none of you thought that maybe that’s what she likes, that she wants to be like her mother, or father who apparently like the way they live – among animals.
I also wonder where’s the Indian girl’s sister? There are two beds, it looks like she has a sister. People also pointed out that she has educational toys, but no one seemed to notice she’s also older than the rest of the kids.
And the last really minor thing. As someone already noticed Texas is not a country, someone also fairly noticed that it would be serious omission not to provide the state since the US are a huge country. But so is China, and India, yet the description under the photo is special only for Texas. Hm?
BTW. I’m 24, from Poland, and I’m a girl who loved to play with guns. I also loved the sword-shaped stick my dad made for me when we went fishing once – I was five then and I still have it. I used to running around with that stick-pretending-sword and pretend I was Robin Hood, or King Arthur. I also have two older brothers I’d look up to. They were my absolute heroes. I wanted to be like them, hence guns, cars, swords, trees and bloody knees. There wasn’t anything girly in my life till the age of 10 or so. And even then I never let my mother make me wear a pink dress. Or lace. Brr.
I also had (still have) a wide collection of Mattel’s Barbies, 10 or so, and those were rather pricy in the early 90’s here… but the plastic gun, plastic handcuffs, and that wooden sword were my beloved possessions. Interesting, hmm?
Oh, and my only contact with guns today is through crime tv shows. Love them since I was old enough to understand them.
Do not judge a book by it’s cover or a child by their toy.
Beautiful!
I love this! Might go take a picture of my son with his prized possessions.
“You Suck” needs a doctor’s help.
A picture is worth more than 1,000 opinions -
I for one liked this. It is what it is.
For what it’s worth, if they had photos of two year olds at Christmas in America, you’d see two year olds with cardboard boxes. They often love the box more than the toy it contained.
All of these kids are rich, not because of their possessions, but because of the opportunities they have to repeat the grace and generosity shown to them, whatever their lot in life.
(And I’m going into rehab for the cliches. So true.)
Awesome. Kids are flower of the world.
I am relieved to see children who don’t have all those guns and barbies and crap. My family is middle-class and live in a well-off community, and I voluntarily refuse to buy my daughter high-tech and plastic toys. Having few toys is not sad. Children whose lives are built around toys don’t know how to have real relationships with people. Simple toys are better than high-tech toys in developing the character of children. I disagree that the African children in these photos live in destitute. To me, if they are around loving people, then that definitely makes them more rich than their wealthy first-world counterparts.
Great photos, most importantly the idea and literally this photos (to some extent) speaks about countries and their present conditions.
If you click on the photographers name link in the article it takes you to his website where you can see a lot more photos of children and their toys from other countries including the US, Australia, Malta, South Africa, Egypt, Fiji Islands, Nicaragua, Iceland, Sweden, Mexico, etc.
A poster above speculated that the US children would all have very expensive toys. Not so. At least not the ones they considered their most prized.
After reading all of these comments, I thought about what my children would have picked when they were little like the kids in the photos. At that age, they would have without hesitation picked their cuddlies, the stuffed animal they slept with. Everything else pales in comparison. And since we don’t wear shoes in the house, I imagine that with only one toy being displayed and no shoes, some here would be saying they must be in poverty, and that certainly isn’t the case.
That is of course because african children are poor and destitute.
Absolutely beautiful. People really are the same all over the world. I noticed some of the commentors were upset that African children were all depicted as poor – I was actually mildly disturbed that rich children were chosen in other nations, where rich is not the norm. I think a more accurate portrayal of the world, would have been to photograph BOTH a rich child from each nation, AND a poor child, to show the disparity, because there is a huge one in each and every country. That being said, I really appreciate this as it was, just because it’s such a gorgeous glimpse of humanity.
I am curious, if I may, about who sponsors these kind of travels? Where does the photographer get the funds to go all over the world photographing these kids?
I am moved by the innocence of children. I had to stop reading the comments because some adults are so full of hatred it’s mind-boggling. I think I need to reconsider having a overseas “foster” child. By the way, I would love to have seen First Nations children maybe in the context of powwow dancing and then, in their everyday clothes. I’ll connect you to some if you want
Touching series. I think there is joy in every frame, even if they have less, I don’t think that’s the point. BEAUTIFUL.
This was so touching…bittersweet. i loved Arafa & Aisha’s matching dresses and all the farm implements with Alessia.
If my girls were chosen for this, they both would of had piles of books, and a stuffed animal/blankie. Brings back memories…
Thank you for this wonderful international visual insight into our children’s lives.
This would be really interesting if it actually managed to accurately portray “economic status and daily life affecting the types of toys children found interest in”. In fact, many of these photos do the exact opposite; are you really going to encourage people to have the impression that the populations in countries like India, Albania, and China are generally well-off simply because you managed to take a snapshot of one child in each country with his/her toys? This is precisely the reason that this can NOT, in any way, be considered an anthropological study. It is extremely misleading and inaccurate, and obviously the brainchild of someone wanting to have an impact on the audience, and not properly knowing how to do it.
I don’t know why adults need to bring politics into this. I think this is a good representation of children around the world and their cultures and it’s only part of the whole collection. There is also the fact that adults would be influencing the choice of toys because of their environment and ideas, so why diss the kids?
In all honesty if my kids (now adults) were to show off their favourite toys there would be my set of pots and some wooden/metal spoons etc in there as that was their “drum kit” when it wasn’t being used for cooking!
As for all the psycho analyses on the facial expressions…hasn’t anyone ever made a face when having a school or other photo taken? It’s part of being a kid!
Aha, a bit of background info makes a world of difference – http://www.gabrielegalimberti.com/projects/toys-2/
I now appreciate these more as they are a view of the world through children’s toys, or lack of them, as they don’t need toys to play.
I loved it. It makes me wonder what my kids would pick out as their most prized possessions. I’m sure that I could guess some, but I bet I would also be surprised!
Different toys… same dream..
interesting, the chinese and indian kids had more educational toys than the rest…what does THAT say???
Very interesting selection of photos. Some contain specific cultural and environmental references, others not so much. It’s important I think, not to rush to assumptions about what these images may or may not project in terms of national or racial meanings. Some comments are sadly laden with emotive stereotyping and some reflect ignorance of world geography. However the facts remain; most kids will have their favourite toy/s whether it’s the only one, a few or many, most kids will play around the house barefoot so comments about whether they have shoes and what that may or may not mean is irrelevant, some will have a western style bed and some may have their own bedroom. All look pretty pleased with their toys and whilst I may feel a little uncomfortable with a few images (and I’ll give a bit of thought as to the reasons), it’s really about kids and what’s important to them.
Possesions, possessions….it always about what kids or people possess.
why doesn noone ever shoes what those kids actually do care about? maybe it’s not their dolls, or their tv – maybe its their families, their friends, the nature they live in…
this world is so possessed by it’s possessions. sad!
The pictures were a great insight into the lives of children.
The comments are a great insight into the lives of adults.
For the adults who have posted very judgmental comments, it seems you think the 8 or so pictures in the article are the ENTIRE collection from 18 months of work. At least go to the guys website and view the collection before judging him. And those who judge the families portrayed, can mostly only do so based on prejudices. Most pictures do not give you enough info to know about the lives of the children. All you know is who they are and their favorite toys. Enjoy that bond.
Right on Geography and Melodi! Chad didn’t happen to see this one from the series. http://www.gabrielegalimberti.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Talia-Arabi-Algeria-1024×1024.jpg
Beautiful. Took me back to my childhood days. I had a He-Man whom I carried around to save the universe!
These are very beautiful photographs. I appreciate the photographer and the comments left by others. Thank You.
I thought I would also mention what another person hinted at in their comment. Two pictures, one from China and the other from India, highlight those cultures’ views on education. Interesting to see that the majority of the Chinese girl’s toys had some type of educational element. Although not to the extent as the Chinese girl, the Indian girl’s toys also had this same type of element. By this, I do NOT mean that other countries automatically do not care about education just because these set of pictures do not depict that. However, it is interesting that the photographs from China and India depict an appreciation for education by very young children.
I cannot say whether I am for or against gun ownership rights in the United States. However, it was nice to see that a little boy from Texas did not have all the “firepower” that the little boy from the Ukraine had. When I first saw the boy from Ukraine I was certain it was a kid from the US. Just an observation.
Carlos
International as defined by one American.
This article and the picture set fail to explore the intersections of identity presented through the material belongings of the children.
Not only that, it supposes that the western imperial gender roles prescribed to globalization are “universal.”
I love how the little Chinese girl had lots of creative toys.
The photos of Stella from Italy and Pavel from the Ukraine illustrate what’s so wrong with gender stereotypes.
Great project. Track them in 10 years and get another series of pictures with their “toys”.
Very moving. I look at some of these photos and wish I could give them the world. Through the eyes of a child. My husband and I have looked into doing mission trips to other countries and adoption, but it is so expensive to do so. Being an RN I would love to be able to help those that are less fortunate and get involved in missionary work. God bless!
I love this concept, the photos and children are wonderful. I wonder how much influence the parents/cultural values have influenced their choices.
wonderful!
Guys, don’t interchange the terms “rich” or “well-off” with “kids who have the newest/most toys.” Yeah, I definitely jumped to that conclusion as a kid – I remember I asked a girl in 1st grade if she was rich because she had a lot of cool crayons and markers. However, in reality people who have the most/nicest stuff aren’t necessarily rich. Actually, I find people in poverty to be more concerned about materialistic symbols of wealth than middle class people are.
the photographer could not find well to do families in Africa?
oh and where in Kenya is Keekrok?
Loved these precious photos of children and their favorite things!!!!
Lots of discussions of rich vs poor. My thinking is of the definion of these words. To me, the boy from Kiev seems the poorest of them all, valuing guns the most. Or maybe the pink girl growing up in such a gender defined society.
I also noticed the lack of books and that there was really only one who valued games. Cant help but wondering what my daughter and son would pick… Imagination and nature though are the best to play with!
So touching. Would love it in book format.
Very interesting photos. I thought the photo of the Albanian girl must surely be in the U.S. with the pink room and barbie dolls until I saw the caption. I also find it interesting that the Chinese girl has toys that I consider rather “old school” imaginative play toys rather than shiny plastic things from Chinese factories that most of the kids in the U.S. play with.
And I’m heart broken for Pavel. I agree that he’s the poorest of all the children.
I think all children should see this, very touching to see the different things
children around the world value.
Moving but I doubt completely accurate… India would have such diverse socio economic groups that that child pictured would come from wealth and vice versa for some of the others.
it so beautiful to see these children..its amasing!
@Kaide and others. Children were asked to choose their favorite toys. This could have been interpretted differently by each of the kids — botth in terms of how they interpretted “favorite” and “toys” Julia/Albania has a bookcase full of books right above her. Cun Zi Yi, China has entire set of art supplies (box with drawers). I don’t think kids have footballs, soccer balls, basketballs because they might not categorize them as “toys” even though they play with them.
I don’t know what’s so sad about these pictures… my son has all the toys in the world, and today he’s playing with a quarter and a juicer. Those kids are smiling, and they’re attended. Their hair is braided, they’re clothed, and they love. My son lives in Oklahoma City and he still makes guns out of legos and pens and whatever he can get his hands on, and he’s not exposed to any violence whatsoever… kids are kids and there’s no particular “right” way to raise them. I would let my son run around outside without shoes, too. That’s the way I was raised and it was fun to feel grass and dirt under my feet. I think these pictures are beautiful.
It’s amazing how children are all so much alike. The photos are amazing and not only our children should reflect upon them, but, so should all the adults.
All were asked to choose what they most valued. Rich or poor they all choose the same thing. A toy. The thing that made them smile.
Such a simple concept and yet so complex.
This my friend could very well be the start of peace. Innocence.
I really enjoyed these photos and I will check out the photographers website as soon as I can. My kids (boys of 8 and 5) looked at them with me and their reactions were interesting. They weren’t very interested in the girl’s toys and thought the gun and motor cycle collections were great. (They aren’t exposed to violence or guns in their every day lives and for a long time I wouldn’t allow them to have guns. As another commenter has noted they just make guns out of sticks or out of lego if they don’t have any!)
They were however, interested in all the children in the pictures and in their beds/homes and loved the glimpse of countryside outside the picture of Norden. They wanted to know where each country was and we got out the globe and my socio/political geography knowledge was tested!
By the way, I’m pretty sure that Norden from Morocco has his school bag and some school books on the left of the picture.
My 8 year old asked me to say on his behalf “Thank you for posting these pictures they are very interesting.”
Strange how the teddy bear on the Malawi picture is so white and clean, and the girl and her clothes full of dirt an mud? I doesn’t look like she’s ever been playing with it. Did the photographer bring it with her? Sorry, but I believe this pictures are arranged.
I have looked at the photos & read all the comments & these are my considered opinions —
Most of you seemed delighted with this collection, as was I — I am shortly going to check out the full collection because I think this is a wonderful photographic study, & well executed.
A few of you who took the time to comment on the comments hit the nail on the head: so many of you could not enjoy this for what it was stated to be – a collection of children around the world with their favourite toys – because you wanted to see ALL of the child’s toys or a more varied offering as to class of child, & for why? So you could judge them, or rate them? You all say that’s what the photographer was doing but that is what YOU are trying to do. And it seems only the African commentors came away with the impression that only poor Africans were shown, completely ignoring the fact that several comfortably-off children in clean African homes were depicted — or do you not know how many different countries there are on your own continent? And, quite honestly, even the Kenyan home looks good to me – I love the way it’s built!
And what’s with the shoe fetish? How many of you commentors, in your fine homes, have your children wearing shoes in the house? How many of you want your children jumping on the beds, with shoes on? Furthermore, in the majority of countries in this world, I believe, it is RUDE to come into a house with your street-shoes on, & it is certainly unhygienic. I lived in London, England for 28 years, had friends from all over the world & ALL of us took our shoes off at the doors of our friends’ homes, as a common courtesy.
I am saddened that so many of you are so negative but pleased that so many more of you are able to counteract that negativity with your comments on the comments – thank you all for an interesting read.
@Yousuck – I am sure I am not alone in thinking you have aptly named yourself. You are the sort of person who sees the internet as a way for you to be as rude as you like, without the slightest intention of making a valid comment on whatever it is that is up for discussion. I doubt you even looked at the photographs. Unfortunately there are many like you out there & all that you do is waste time & space.
BEAUTIFUL, POIGNANT PHOTOGRAPHS — THANK YOU!!
Not only is this series a great idea, but it certainly sparked a lot of discussion. That to me is the whole point of documentary photography…to increase awareness and get people talking.
Such a beautiful and fulfilling project.
It must suck to have your work wrongly judged and misinterpreted by some people but I think it’s great.
Theres nothing more authentic than childhood.
Made my day.
Very nice, but gimme a break! Whats with all the children from Africa all looking bedraggled and woebegone; you seem to have no inkling about the wealth on this continent. perhaps they didnt grant the photographer access to the scrumptious delight that is their homes, but personally, i am tired…Africa is chockfull of the richest people ever!!! visit http://www.konnectafrica.net and you will see Africans on the Forbes list of richest people in the world!
I love every single one of these children. Black, white, Asian, European, I simply do not care. I am a 42 year old married male. These beautiful faces melted my heart, and made me sad that I can’t hold each one of them. I also feel black Americans were ripped off when a half white, half black man stole their much deserved moment of history, because his policies are bad for not just Americans, but the stability of the rest of the world. But when I state things like this, a simple view point, I am called a racist. Just sayin’.
The pictures of the kids are great. The comments, however, are the best part. What a bunch of dumbasses.
This is actually very depressing. You see the huge contrast between wealth and poverty – the spoiled little girl with fancy dresses & barbie dolls, the boy with Spiderman bed sheet and dinosaur figures vs. the African children with ragged mosquito net and probably leftover, second-hand toys.
One of my very favorite projects is filling shoe boxes with toys, personel items etc. for Franklin Graham’s organization Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Box Ministry to distribute to children around the world. My 2012 boxes went to Tanzania. What a thrill for me to know 8 kids had something special.
It’s fascinating that in the Costa Rican picture they show an African Negro kid instead of a real Costa Rican American child. I wonder what a real Costa Rican American child would have as their personal prized affects?
Bellsidor ….first the picture is taken in Cahuita, located on the carribean coast and second this kid is not an African negro … He is a mix kid, probably a mix from a mestizo and native indigenous …what a costa rican american child would have? A Costarican kid would probably have the same stuff as the Italian child or Texas or any other kid. I’m a afrocarribean meanning Im black and also from Costa Rica, I believe this pictures were taken base on stereotypes, why not take the picture of a real native from Cahuita ? I bet people will be surprise to see the way they live and what are their most prized possessions
Moving pictures. I love to travel to see how people in other countries live like how they position their pantry, how they wear certain attire and when. I love the pictures here because it shows the simplicity of the subject and intricacy of objects. I am just glad no one put and iPad as one of their toys!
THis is GREAT!
I can see how some would be sad by this but why? They have the world to play with. Can you imagine the cool games these kids know?
Mass amounts of toys and things dont make a kid happy. Love does.
Yes some are in sad conditions but most dont know any better. My point is. Look at what little they have. They covet that one little rubber dinosaur..it doesnt get lost in a pile of forgotten American Christmas.
Enthralling images of beautiful children in their authentic environment. Beautifully captured by the camera and a sensitive arrangement. Thank you
I love these and I want to see more! THis should be a big book collection!
What an amazing piece of work. I love the contrast of the different houses and children. Very unique and beautiful.
as long i believe that toys help in develop child knowledge but i don’t agree with parent, family who buy toys guns for their kids to play with , what are we teaching this kids, what example are we portray that guns is good, is way of life the you most own one. and how do we justify this child one day taking lay his/ her hand on real gun and thought is the same as toy gun his parent bought him/her in the past and take it to school start shooting his/ her classmate ans other kids. well join me may 4th at colab projects space in Austin for exhibition of art installation and performance and to sign the petition on eradicating guns in our society. links: http://co-labprojects.org/#43925574019.
. looking forward to see you there.
absolutely touchy, it went totally under my skin
My three year old son saw this and was really moved by the pic of Tangawizi in Kenya. He was confused why Tangawizi didn’t have a bed. After we talked about it a little bit, he resolved that he wanted to buy a bed as a present for Tangawizi. I made a deal with him that if he could save up or raise the money to buy the bed, I’d find Tangawizi. Turns out that is a lot harder than I thought…
http://nickmorrowmusic.com/lincolns-buy-tangawizi-a-bed-fund/
This is a really great idea, good job and congrats
I really wish that this also had photos of children from around the world that can’t afford or get their hands on barbies and stuffed animals and board games- and shown what THEIR most prized possessions were. Sure this is a great set of photos but I’m really not impressed with it. I would have liked to see more diversity.
Some of these are sad, but it’s nice to see they have SOMETHING to give them a little happiness.
reoccuring single face of africa – this awful. Awful collection of photos that reinforces world myths. there is so much more to Africa. There are different poverty levels just like other countries. Also what about a black family in a “western country” – you have to be so careful with collections of photos. This is genuinely detrimental.
Beautiful Kids
Thank you for sharing these pics! I wonder how they would compare if you limited each child to pick only their top 3 favorite toys and photograph each of them in their favorite place to play with their toys.
After reading the text I thought, what a great idea. But the first three pictures were disappointing… showing any stereotypes (just look at pictures from Malawi, Italy and Ukraine). By the way, when looking on the friends of my 14-month old son, I am not sure, which of them would be the most representative for our country. The children (with the same economic background!) are so different with their toys, and their behavior… Very ambivalent, this project.
A picture truly is worth a thousand words and you captured thousand of words with your shots here. I love photography too and yeah like one of the commentator above said “this is the kind that i love!”
Where is Azerbaijan?
But all of the toys are basically the same. I was hoping for more. . . vareity somehow. Childhood designed in the West, manufactured in China, and globally purchased. Not the children’s fault, or even the parents. I just thought these pictures would be more. . . diverse, show more uniqueness. Definitely makes me think about my own boys and what they are playing with (consuming? be consumed by?). Such beautiful children.
Africa is a continent with a over a billion people and a very fast growing middle class, yet all he could photograph was destitute kids; pretty disappointing.
This is excellent work. It took some time to see what I was looking at.
Those people who believe it should be something else, you are welcome to create and publish your own works.
It’s quite possible that the children who showed a lot of favorite toys considered them all their favorites.
This reminds me a lot of the photo series “Where Children Sleep” by James Mollison. http://www.jamesmollison.com/wherechildrensleep.php
Very beautiful photos, for both of the stories. Food for thought.
Excellent work, Gabriele Galimberti. I am looking forward to seeing more photos on this interesting theme. Keep up the great work!
It puts things in perspective… My children dont need everything they will point at. Better few items that they cherish than a bunch they will not respect…
Thank u for reminding me to appeiciate what i have and not everything i want to have….
Very nice set of pictures. Still, it’s very much influenced by the financial status of each family…it would have been good to see average children around all the world – but it’s still a very nice album, thanks a lot for sharing, great idea! Alin
@ gheed, how dumb are you, these kids are in their bedrooms.
I see no books as a prized possession. I teach reading and it makes me sad.
les inégalités sociales tout simplement
Es una repugnancia lo de Pavel de Ukraina, no si queremos la guerra, hemos de educar a nuestros hijos. Por lo visto esto en Ukraina no conocen qué significa.
Remarkable theme! Looking forward to future global awareness pieces.
Mark, you know nothing of Costa Rica or the people native to Costa Rica or ALL of America. Please stop trolling about a subject you obviously want to deride against. Stay across the ocean where you are, where you come from and where you will always be. Political hate trolling on the internet does not help your people or your children or your dark continent. The pic from Texas has a real American child, Mark. That’s what a real American is, not an african, dumbass troll. Yes, Bellsidor, they should have shown a real Costa Rican American child and not a negro import kid such as what they did in fact show.
the great thing is, kids don’t give a damn about what all the cynical adults will say about them. they just are who they are and its so pure and honest. im so thankful for kids to keep life bearable.
Children i?te.Oyunla grow. Toys will be happy.
This is really interesting. They should keep track of these kids, I wonder if what their favourite toys were will have anything to do with what they end up doing in their lives.
The girl from India is lucky to have all those toys and board games, 90% of children there cannot afford and do not have these expensive toys. He should have gone to the biggest slum of the world and would have been shocked to see how poor these kids are. I know, I am from India.
Wonderful pictures. The artist clearly connected with his subjects and captured the pride these children feel for their treasure(s). How can you not feel touched looking at these images. I am sure he had a reason for letting them choose the number of treasures they (or their parents) want to portrait. Limiting the kids to just one or two toys might have made the images more powerful, because they would have provide more of an opportunity to see what unites these kids – or not. My sense is that some interesting patterns might have emerged. Then again…. I respect the artists choice. After all, art is about the unique perspective of the artist …. not about science, sociology, psychology, or anything else. Thank you!
The little Thai boy looks just like North Korea’s new “leader”
Botlhe – Maun, Botswana; this was my favourite photo and put a big smile on my face- Botlhe looks so proud of her toy! Very heartwarming
The kids with less possessions are so cute and happy and the ones with more things seem as if they couldn’t care less! I am disappointed in all the kids in the pictures who didn’t smile or act happy about their prized possessions after what we saw with the poorer kids!
This is bullshit. Take a look at Malawi for example. Her legs is dipped in mud and you expect her to have a clean white bunny like what we see on the picture? No!! What the photography probably did is that he gave her the dolls just for the picture
Once again the stereotype of Africa being the poor, helpless continent is perpetuated in these photos. I just came back from Sierra Leone and there are a lot of people living in wealth. There a poor people all over the world. Why is it that the Indian child that was photographed was well-to-do and yet all the African kids were poor? It’s really sad that Westerners only see Africa in one light. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie did a TED Talk on the danger of a single story. “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” We really need to realize that the poor, hopeless African is one story about some Africans and not all Africans.
I agree with Fatmata. The photos should have been taken of both the rich and the poor. This collection is not complete yet. It looks like a bleeding heart collection.
I found this photo spread to be a great reminder that childhood is so sweet and innocent. Toys bring comfort, connection & inspire imagination. It’s also a great reminder that all children are their own individuals, with their own interests & points of connection. I was sad to read so many comments that were judgemental or critical of the children for their choice of toys. I think those comments are oppressive and degrading to the children for their personal choices. I also found it interesting how quickly some passed judgement on the artist…commenting on race/social class/etc. It appears to me that they are assuming that the artist purposely “left out” certain groups. Very unfair assumptions. Perhaps the artist chose the most “middle class” of each society…we wouldn’t know w/out actually asking the artist.
lovely article. really makes you think. I often thought when travelling that those with less cherished, polished, loved them more. Recently I felt this while at a friend house. They had so many presents for Christmas they hardly even looked at them. Perhaps one present would have been enough I reflected.
En este articulo hay fotos que muestran la verdadera pobreza , situación que yo siendo de un país pobre como es la República Dominicana desconozco. Una de las imágenes que mas me conmovió fue la del nino de Kenya, de verdad que me conmovió el alma, este tipo de cosas me hace reflexionar sobre mi vida y que tanto necesito para ser feliz.
cool .,.,u remind me my childhood and my toys .,great works.,
one might think that americans would be more materialistic, but i think many people would be surprised. i remember that for a long time my favorite toys were a pringles can full of marbles, and a box full of polished rocks. i think a lot of the materialism we see today comes from the thought that children must have the coolest, newest toys to be happy. really, all they need is an imagination, which, sadly, is being killed off by the ipad.
This is absolutely amazing, loved it!
I think this is a great project.
And to those few people who HAVE to go and make something racist about this beautiful project – damn you -, and @Chad Marshal and @ Fowzia, I live in South Africa, and it’s completely naive to think there’s a bunch of millionaires walking around. Yes there are millionaires, but they’re not a depiction of the majority of Africa at all; Why would you go and specifically search out a millionaire while 90% of Africa lives in poverty. Cause damn people wake up that is Africa for you. People get ripped of by the governments and have to suffer under the poorest conditions you can imagine. That has nothing to do with race, it has to do with a corrupted continent, where the rich feeds of the poor.
End of rant.
What stood out for me were the Asian girls. They probably boast the most toys but their stuff consist of games. Games are known to stimulate cognition at impressionable ages.
Growing up in rural Kenya was the best thing that happened to my imagination. I got the chance to do carvings from soapstone which my tribe is globally renown for. Life was monetary very poor but socially very rich. Society raises up kids and many people cant understand what this means except if you have ever visited. Africa has great economic potential, but we have poor leadership, tribalism and we adjust and accept poverty as part of us as long as our tribal leaders are stealing and living lavishly on our behalf. That is the bit I REJECT.
Although the amount of possessions that kids have does not say anything about the happiness of these kids. I grew up in Africa too, had a very happy childhood with little or no toys at all.
Moving images. It made me think back on my favorite toys as a kid and other than my LEGOs, my most prized possession was my bike.
lets take to notice that the child from Massa, Morocco has featured school related items in the photograph as one of their most prized possessions.
first of all, kudos to the editors involved for coming up with this priceless article.
makes us realize that every culture is different.
children are so cute, and considering their toys as their prized possessions, makes me wonder how they handle things well at a tender age.
don’t discriminate anyone by their skin color!
and this goes for all of you who are going through any sort of downs in their lives, STOP, TAKE A DEEP BREATH, AND GO READ THIS ARTICLE. this article will definitely make you feel better. as to how kids in poor countries have very less privileges still they are so happy. really.
and for those of you out there who are showing despise and hate towards this pavel from ukraine… stop with all the negativity about him! so what if he has guns as his favorite toys. it’s his personal choice what. and he very well knows that those guns will not harm anyone. toy guns they are.
think. reflect. create.
i love this article.
*sends world peace*
Jerry-
Nice ^^ kids are beautiful no matter where they are from
A great collection! I loved to see these kids
What an amazing photo series. I still keep a bunch of my childhood toys!
This was a very good set of pics with the children. they really stand out! good work on these.
Well said Ginger. Thank you for opening a window on a perspective often dismissed.
I don’t have time to read all the comments to see if anyone else replied to A-nony-mice’s assertion that there are no Native children. You know, like the black children in Africa. I’ll give you China because she looks Han and there are certainly other, more marginalised, indigenous ethnicities there, but it’s a little bit disingenous to claim that none of them are Native! You know it doesn’t just mean Native American, right?
Those with fewer items must concentrate their love.
Arafa & Aisha – Bububu, Zanzibar epic one, with the classic Skeletor from He-Man!!!!
Brilliant photos, very moving.
Hi,
These photos are lovely, but how about a tom girl? I know when I was little my prized possession would have been my dog & I certainly would not be inside. If it were an object when I was little it would have been my dinosaurs. Also are a couple of these posed? I would like to see something that make no sense and point out of people are complicated. Just because a little girl has blonde hair and lives in a castle does not mean she think of herself as a princess. Some of them seem a bit forced, but beautiful at the same time.
Just a few thoughts,
No face
I showed this to my daughter Rose (7) and this is what she said:
this is very pretty.I think it gives a lot of different emotions and feelings.fab
These are incredibly beautiful and telling. I love, love, loved looking at them!
Great big hugs,
Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
(currently in Portugal)
brought tears and deep thoughts…. so much to say about dinosaurs, weapons, lovely cows, simple toys, media products, lack of roots, sweet teddy bears , stereotype dolls,……….. childhood is such sensible ground! dear beauties, dear little ones! what a world to grow up in! Wonderful idea these photos, would like to see more of it!!!!
Look at the kids facial expressions. Which seem happier than others? Say much?
These pictures are museum pieces. The subjects are medium. The commentators are, for lack of a better analogy, the world rustling at the newsstand. There is nothing “natural” about any of this, except the constant talking and observing from inside the glass. Kids don’t pose with toys unless adults are present, they ARE toys; adults generally forget entirely that they are playing all the time with toys. But the reflection seems awkward, so they pretend that they are something else, doing something else. When my children played with toys at this age, they were gods, they didn’t need historians.
this is amazing and I feel bad for some of those kids just look at their rooms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well I think the one with pink all over is the happiest
Not surprised they didn’t take any pictures of kids in LA. Not that hard to get a picture of a toddler and their iPad…lol
Happiness is relative. I don’t think we can make those judgement calls, but I do think that this is an extremely interesting photo collection & I would love to see more – maybe even a book?