Upbringing
"to reform the world - means to reform upbringing. children are not the people of tomorrow, but are people of today. they have a right to be taken seriously, and to be treated with tenderness and respect. they should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant to be. 'the unknown person' inside of them is our hope for the future." - janusz korczak upbringing (2010-) is a long-term research about childhood as the first stage of defining our place in society, both individually and collectively. it is a study of pure human interaction and the choreography of group dynamics being formed. the particularity of these children lies in their alternative models of educational environments, in which a sense of playful curiosity stimulates development, change and learning. growing up unschooled with 4 younger siblings, i began to photograph at age 13, documenting our daily life. unschooling advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. it embraces the changing interests and creativity of children, in comparison to the rigid structure of typical mainstream education. the project expanded in 2014, as i began documenting the community of homeschooling families in both france and israel. this initiated a conscious desire to highlight the multiplicity of innovative educational forms, and the importance of such variety in a changing world. in 2018, i photographed the montessori school de korg in rotterdam, and aim to explore other alternative structures in the future. afterwards, i documented a dutch unschooling family of 3 children, looking at the similarities and differences from my own family’s experience. lastly, an ongoing observation of the dutch landscape serve as a parallel reflection on the context itself. upbringing is an open invitation to take an active look at the world around us, a contemplation of those in-between moments that make up our daily lives. i hope to create space for discussion about our perception of the educational process, especially when learning is found in all aspects of life. upbringing celebrates the search for innovation in education, the possibility of growing up with a sense of freedom.