Don’t view this as endorsement of kids smoking, tobacco or any of that shiznit. But these photos will make you look twice, guarenteed. Regardless of if it’s social, political or commercial, or otherwise, it’s very effective art. This is smart, powerful, horrible.
This photo series “The Beauty of an Ugly Addiction” is Photographer Frieke Janssens’ response to nicotine addiction and new smoking laws. She asks, “does this ban treat adults like children who can’t willfully decide whether or not to partake in this horribly harmful habit? What is it about smoking, aside from the obvious addictive content, that draws people in? Is it its image from film noir? Is it the appeal of its performative consumption, that mannerism or pose that seems to imbue a smoker with a particular sort of character?”
Can’t argue that you’ll stop and look. Tell me what you think in the comments. Then check out this sort of surreal behind the scenes video is here:
[via flavorpill, neatorama]
Hi Frieke, if you’re reading! Chase, thanks for posting!
As soon as my eyes set on the first image, my first impression was “woah – a child with a cigarette – two things that should never meet” (it’s good to know that this was done in post – very nicely too!) I’d seen the young boy who smokes on the news, felt awful. I think this work, for me, firstly brings my attention to underage smoking, and then I think why am I not shocked to see adults damaging their bodies in the same way? The images didn’t speak to me about the smoking ban at first, but it’s an interesting point to me as well. Smoking is an adult activity, it seems wrong to see children smoking, but why? Smoking is actually quite a sexual activity, it’s phallic, and people have always found it attractive. To see a child do this really makes me wonder what exactly is the most addicting part of smoking aside from the nicotine.
I have no words … thanks for sharing
the pictures are beautiful, aesthetically. but it saddens me to see children who smoke, especially the one in the video. 🙁 poor kid. —-> the message of the photos.. very effective.
unreal. thanks for sharing.
I got this yesterday and they were two years old then. Tell them I said “happy birthday”. LOL. I don’t know, Perhaps these are photoshopped I am hoping, but if not it just shows more of the direction society is going in. I recall a young teenager and her young boyfriend (maybe 14 or 15) walking pass a location shoot I was doing and they were both smoking, they stopped to watch, and then the girl ask if I can take their pic together. I said sure and I will email it to you. Then the guy said to the girl “baby unbutton your shirt so your pregnant belly can be in the pic”. She was very much pregnant but didn’t really look it. I was appalled at that very moment because this baby was going to have the same choice that these kids have, or maybe this baby had the same choice as these kids; bad parenting. I told the young couple that I would only take the photo if they put the cigarettes out and thought about the baby’s health for the rest of its term inside the mother. They finally agreed after arguing about how they were hoping to blow smoke rings together. The model asked the girl what did her doctor say about her smoking and the girl replies she had never seen a doctor, that they were homeless, and that they didn’t even have an email address to send the photo to anyway, so they walked off. You. An’t even imagine how this left me feeling on that day. It’s no different lookin at this.