Editors Only Story
Family Posers
Moreover, the ludic or performative qualities of these photographic images matches the playful predilections of their (mostly young) subjects, who were active collaborators in their making. Rather than trying to depict some sort of "essence" of unadorned youth, the photographs speak to the importance of dress-up, play, and make-believe in the life of children, for whom Harry Potter and Batman are as real as anyone else, if not more so. All children might be said to see the world – and themselves – through a distorted looking glass of fantasy, but of course, so do most adults. We are all posers.