There’s nothing like a child’s smile.We must prevent children from being exposed to images of war, since it can be traumatic even if they haven’t lived the events.
Explaining to a child that there is a country at war is something that many people would never like to have to face. Using silence as a way of protecting childhood, so that children cannot understand war, is not the best answer.
Children have amazing observation skills: they know that things are happening, although their capacity for understanding is not as strong. When the last war broke out, yet another one, nipping optimism in the bud and shattering evolution, I decided to prepare a catalogue of items that would represent the cruelty of war while calling its existence into question, using irony and encouraging reflection.
An educational guide disguised as a catalogue of children’s Christmas toys that have lost their colour, a collection of unidentified, broken and abandoned devices. A support handbook that grown-ups cannot fathom, leads to the conclusion that a horrific world can only be represented by taking absurdity to the extreme.
This list of visual poems describes utter disappointment with exaggerated childish enthusiasm to simplify the questions that may arise when approaching the subject of war with children.
Impossible toys that help to address the mistaken and far-from-appropriate messages or ideas that children have come up with, and begin to convey others through emotions.
Because playing symbolises the capacity of amazement, encouraging an open mind and social awareness, which, in turn, ensures beauty and harmony.
Ludic elements are the signs of an approach based on happiness and kindness principles that take us back to our childhood.
https://inmp-news.museumsforpeace.org/issue-37
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