Childhood

William Golding has taught us a devastating lesson: to NEVER leave prepubescent boys alone in a make-believe paradise without any kind of adult supervision. But in Michael’s fairy tale, all the heroes are young boys. Grown ups and little girls are totally excluded. The plains and ruins of Oklahoma are swarming with emaciated, half-naked ghost soldiers, all lined up, awaiting another spin in the meatgrinder. Their paper features are burnt, scribbled and crossed out; the tissues ripped apart, corroded and faded; eyes gouged and hollow; torsos disemboweled from the pelvic regions up to the undeveloped adam’s apples. They sometimes comes off as mere victims, unlucky toddlers trapped within a nightmarish limbo, but there are also signs of cockiness and infantile cruelty; they are all potential predators preying on each other in a dog- eat-dog world.

"Childhood" is the first comprehensive monograph of artist and filmmaker Michael Salerno's photographic works. Featuring work spanning almost a decade - many never before published as well as new works created especially for this book - "Childhood" also features an in-depth interview with the artist and a foreword by Martin Bladh.