shashasha

“Wild Children” is the latest entry in Japanese photographer Osamu Yokonami’s long-running “Children” series. As in previous entries, the set-up is simple but effective: Yokonami photographs young children who keep a fruit or a vegetable (in “Wild Children” a glowing red apple) pinched between their head and their shoulder, trying to not let it fall down.

For “Wild Children,” Yokonami selected photographs of children who broke out into tears during the photography session. Some of the subjects are photographed mid-scream, others after having calmed down again, their tears almost entirely gone. Like in previous series, Yokonami’s photographs achieve something substantial and profound in this exploration of primal feelings and instincts. The children stare directly at the reader, unknowingly confronting them with their subtle but undeniable personalities at very beginning of their lives.