Andrijana Pajovic, Serbia: KIDS WITH GUNS (2007/2008)

Children, with weapons in their hands, are more and more a reality in our world. Everyday kids are committing brutal crimes in their schools and homes. Misusage of fire arms is part of life, especially in the Balkans, where I come from. After the wars of the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of guns came into the possession of common people, are in their homes, easily accessible to their children.
Also, shooting from a weapon is a part of almost every mass celebration. Kids are looking at their fathers with guns and consider it as a symbol of maturity. Of course, mass media, television, movies and interactive video games, are full of violence. The culture of weapons and violence is deeply rooted in the tradition of the Balkans.
Models from my photographs were ordinary children and teenagers from Montenegro, from middle class families, very well socialized and adapted in their environment. I photographed them the way they are, without acting and any staged effects, in poses they chose, in their houses and gardens. I took photographs in a straight manner, focusing on the person with a gun, concentrating at the static picture and what can be extracted from it. Some moral issues motivated me to start this series, but they were not my goal.