Recently, the charitable organization Save the Children asked documentary photographer James Mollison to come up with an idea to get people thinking about the rights of children around the world. What he came up with was an unusual, but powerful project: a photo essay of more than 200 children and their bedrooms, called "Where Children Sleep."
"I found myself thinking about my bedroom: how significant it was during my childhood, and how it reflected what I had and who I was," Mollison, who was born in Kenya, writes. "It occurred to me that a way to address some of the complex situations and social issues affecting children would be to look at the bedrooms of children in all kinds of different circumstances." The book has sold out since its initial printing last year, and Mollison says his publisher intends to reprint it later this year.
Mollison photographed the child's bedroom and the child separately, juxtaposing the two photos. You can check out some of the photos from the book, below.
Four-year-old Kaya lives in Tokyo, where her mother spends $1,000 per month on her wardrobe:
James Mollison
A Romanian four-year-old living outside Rome, Italy with his undocumented family:
James Mollison
A 7-year-old Nepalese girl who works in a quarry and lives in a one-room home with her parents and siblings:
James Mollison
Alyssa lives with her family in Harlan County, Kentucky:
James Mollison
Eight-year-old Ahkohxet lives with his tribe in the Amazon basin in Brazil:
James Mollison
Nine-year-old Dong lives with his family in Yunnan, China:
James Mollison
Nine-year-old Tzvika lives in the West Bank, in a gated community of 36,000 Orthodox Jews:
James Mollison
Nine-year-old Jamie lives with his family on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan:
James Mollison
Eleven-year-old Thais lives in the City of God, Brazil and wants to be a model:
James Mollison
Kana, 16, lives in Tokyo:
James Mollison