A couple of years ago a viral video made the social media rounds. It gained popularity on YouTube and suddenly could not be escaped. It featured an Indonesian toddler with a 40 cigarette per day habit. It was disturbing on many levels, primarily the contrast between his young age and the adult habit. Frieke Janssens also saw the video. She became intrigued by this contrast particularly since recent smoking bans have positioned smoking as a thing of the past. As most things of yesteryear it now has a romantic aura. The era of Jazz, of Lauren Bacall and Don Draper. Frieke has juxtaposed this glamorous and decidedly adult time with children. The fact that her work coincided with Belgium's implementation of smoking bans is just happenstance (she is Flemish). The series is not a statement on a government patronizing it's people. It's more a reflection of how smoking has lost its power and shock value due to these bans and returning some of that by contrasting it with the innocence of youth. The children were given chalk and cheese sticks, cigarettes were later added in digitally.
See more of her images below or visit her website at: http://frieke.com/#!/.
