Children From Around the World, Posed With Their Favorite Toys

Gabriele Galimberti is a traveler, and his project “Toy Stories” is a product of this frequent voyaging. Over 18 months, he made portraits of children from around the world (Latvia, Zanzibar, Bangkok, India, Texas) posed with their favorite toys.

There’s no huge cultural or gender-studies insights being pushed here (unlike, for better of worse, something like JeongMee Yoon’s “The Pink & Blue Project”)—in Galimberti’s portraits, kids around the world are seen liking many of the same things—dinosaurs, trucks and guns for the boys, dolls and stuffed animals for the girls. There are exceptions, which are fun (I like Maudy from Zambia, and her collection of sunglasses), but for the most part we see a similar picture no matter where we are. Which, I guess, is the point. And despite the similarities, each kid’s personality is allowed to soak through.

Maudy – Kalulushi, Zambia

I also enjoyed Galimberti’s project “CouchSurfing”—a series of portraits he’s made of people he’s stayed with during his travels using the website of the same name.

I found Galimberti’s via the excellent blog Feature Shoot, which we’ve linked on past occasions. Check them out.