Produced by a group of children who suffered sexual abuse. The youngest victim was seven years old. In many cases their abusers are members of their own family, and as a result the children grow up with profound emotional damage.

When they grow up they become promiscuous and unconsciously recreate situations that they encountered in their childhood. Some leave home and turn to prostitution to make a living; others become distrustful of other people, hindering their ability to form a meaningful and significant relationship with other people.

This dolls’ house looks innocent enough from the outside, but take look at what the dolls are up to. All the exhibits had a very powerful impact and the visitors could not hide their shock at the vivid ways they had been expressed.

Sexual abuse, drug addiction… These are things you read about in newspapers and saw on the news. They are reality, but seen as taboo subjects at the same time. This exhibition provided an opportunity to see in concrete form “the unseen part of society” and by enabling these matters to see the light of day, it met a lot of public response.

I visited the exhibition three times, and with each visit the boards supplied in the exhibition area seemed to fill up with messages erupt with emotion: anger at the useless authorities and praise for the children.

“Kids Company” provides therapy for the children by means of various arts therapy such as dance, drama and fine art. The children, who grew up in incredible abusive environment as opposed to those who lead ‘ordinary’ lives, show immense creativity when given an opportunity to express their expressions freely. The company states that when adults cannot accept their roles in life and fail the children, the children are not to be blamed. For this reason, it is injustice to criminalise the vulnerable children.

Shrinking Childhoods
Date: November 17th, 2004 – March 9th, 2005
Open: 10:00 – 18:00
Place: Tate Modern
Address: Bankside, London SE1
Tel: +44 (0)20 7887 8888
https://www.tate.org.uk/modern/