victims of fireworks

2012 was a week old when Shirley (11 years) found in her hometown a piece of fireworks on the street. She decided to light some of it together with a fries. In the following explosion she was severely wounded. The firecracker turned out to be a Cobra 6, not available in The Netherlands, but sold on internet with the encouraging text 'the loudest bangs in Europe'. I photographed her almost a year later and recorded the damage: Besides injuries of hearing and sight, three of her fingers are to pieces in such an extent that her hand will maintain small. As a former movement scientist I'm interested in physical features of young people and the way this affects their life, the way they perceive themselves and the way other people approach them. Especially, in some of these cases, they are to blame themselves for their mutilation. Facing prejudices of others will affect their self-awareness. I try to photograph them as a person, you wondering about 'who he is' instead of 'what he has'.