The Ladybug, 2009
“The Ladybug Series is an ongoing photo project and was borne from the desire to pay tribute to my own experience of growing up. I was inspired by the birth of my little daughter Sofia. Watching her grow from a newborn to a toddler has allowed me to view my recollections of myself as a little girl from a different perspective.
The girls in the Ladybug Series were asked to wear their chosen “special” dress. Thus, they could express their uniqueness and individuality and be seen as they would like to be seen, not as society expects a little girl to appear. I wanted it to be the antithesis of the romantic notion of children in art depicting children as endearing miniaturizations of adults.
Ladybugs evoke clumsiness; the Ladybug girls are allowed to be child-like and clumsy, because they are children. Their special dresses do not have to fit. They are not faulty small adults in need of correction, education or taming. Within their imperfection and spontaneity lies their charm, and innocence.
I was struck by the prevalent style of the chosen dresses: feminine, classic, traditional, as opposed to opting for more modern trends. I am interested in this consistency which confirms the influence that archetypes have in our early years of life making this project an investigation in that substrate from which the basic themes of human life emerge “. – Guia Besana.
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