Oh look, it’s fluffy!

Medium/Technique: Analogue photography on semi-gloss fine art paper

Camera: Nikon FE (1978) on Kodak Ultramax 400 film

Year created: 2024

Limited edition: 1/15

Light, Darkness, the Unknown, Soft Fur.

The mystery and unpredictability of metropolitan parks for children is something we adults can barely grasp anymore. 

This documentation explores the innocence and curiosity of children as they navigate urban spaces. In this four-part chronology, the focus is on childlike exploration.

For this reason, this series reveals as little as possible to the viewer until, in the end, they are led to a fundamental, childlike realisation. The interplay of light and shadow represents children’s limited yet highly sensitive perception. Darkness lifts at the conclusion, and the child takes another of many steps towards understanding the world. Thus, light and shadow take on multiple meanings here: they symbolise the unknown and realisation, whilst also pointing to emotions such as confusion, overwhelm or relief. 

Materiality plays a decisive role at the beginning and end of the series. Initially, it hints at the jungle that children perceive in every small bush. Everything feels foreign, exciting, distant and threatening. By the end of the series, however, materiality represents the children’s ‘aha’ moment. What previously seemed so distant and mystical becomes something approachable and fluffy. Thus, it provides a narrative framework for the development addressed in the series.

04_Oh look, it’s fluffy!

The series concludes with the children’s realisation. They have learnt that this once-strange creature belongs to their world and can even be stroked. It suddenly becomes approachable. The darkness that dominated the previous images gives way to a light-filled scene.

The smooth and shadowy textures of the jungle give way to the fluffy and soft fur of an approachable animal. The ‘aha’ moment has arrived.