Zuzana Halánová, Childless
Every year, I see more and more of my friends marrying and starting families. I myself remain childless and as the years go by, I find myself thinking more and more about what that means. This led me to explore the topic photographically. Over time, I discovered that there is a secret world of childless women that is full of fragility and uncertainty. These women felt that the absence of a child in their lives somehow meant that they had failed in some life mission and found it difficult to identify with the theme. Many of them did not want to share this in the presence of my camera. For this reason, some of the stories are not included among these pictures. However, I also came across women who made a conscious decision not to have a child and felt comfortable with that choice, preferring instead to take care of their own lives without carrying the burden of failure associated with childlessness that others reported. When asked about being “childless” they preferred to call themselves “childfree”. One way or the other, fashion, advertising and mass media proclaim that childlessness is an emancipated way of living a modern life. However, when asked about their feelings, I found that the majority of childless women between the ages of 35 and 45 felt stigmatised for waiting until later in life to start a family.
See clip from the gallery walk by Pauli Hokkanen here
The exhibition runs until September 30th.
