The Flip Side- Under the Surface

The situations of these children can be very complex, not only for the children but often their caregivers or entire families as well.  Yet if you met these children, and watched and interacted with them you would see laughter, silliness and play.  I want to create images that explore these contrasting emotions.  For the first image of the twins I wanted to represent the transition from their dysfunctional home and their stay in foster care.  Here is my image:

For a child such transitions are unsettling and full of confusion.  They are surrounded by adults but trust is unsure.  The children are represented as shadows only since Foster Children are the invisible refugees in their own country. 

I realized that this image is more powerful in juxtaposition with the Healing Heart images to bring out their true contrast but instead of just showing them side by side the idea evolved into making one image an appendage of the other.  I have some interesting ideas of images I can do this way in the future and I am excited to see how the project progresses.

You can see the final combined image here:

http://www.brenslade.com/theflipside