After seeing a Youtube video of a chain smoking Indonesian toddler, Frieke Janssens starting reflecting on the cultural differences between east and west while questioning smoking as an adult activity. She was triggered to create Smoking Kids, a series of child portraits containing elements of the sophisticated fifties, when smoking on a plane or in a restaurant was not unusual. Her aim is to compel viewers to truly see the acts of smoking without instantly making assumptions about the person doing it. She wants to raise questions about the meaning of smoking: what did it mean in the past, what it will mean in the future? The aesthetics of smoke and the particular way smokers gesticulate with their hands and their posture can’t be denied, but among the different tribes portrayed in “Smoking Kids,” – Glamour, Jazz, and The Marginal – there is a nod to less attractive aspects, balancing the line between the beauty and ugliness of smoking. 

To see more of Frieke Janssens, visit her website, and like her on facebook.

(To assure you the safety of the children portrayed; no real cigarettes were used on set).