The Children of Mars  (2018)

The Children of Mars are the sons and daughters of a generation captivated by cosmic exploration, science fiction, and the boundless possibilities of the future. Born into an era defined by moon landings, satellite breakthroughs, and unprecedented space innovation, they grew up watching humanity take its first steps beyond Earth.

This portrait series—likely captured in London during the 1960s and 70s—depicts children who, like me, belong to the first generation of the Space Age. Their faces, obscured by circular interventions, mirror the way infographics reduce individual identity into universal symbols. With the passage of time, their personal stories have faded, yet their presence remains as a collective reflection of an era when children looked to the stars with wonder, imagining futures shaped by technology and exploration.

Grounded in their time through clothing and surroundings, these children transcend individual identity, instead embodying a shared cultural moment—one of curiosity, innovation, and limitless possibility.

Rooted in the materiality of film photography, The Children of Mars embraces analogue processes and physical interventions, challenging how we perceive portraits when identity is shaped by collective memory rather than personal recognition. This series invites us to step into a time when the cosmos was both a mystery and a promise, inspiring a generation to dream beyond the world they knew.