Infant refugees trek through cartoon mountains while child doctors fight malaria amid a riot of colour in these vibrant tableaux, which appear at odds with the dark realities that inspired them. That was exactly the intention of their creator, the French photographer Patrick Willocq. Commissioned by Save the Children and the Pearson publishing group to produce a series of images on the theme of refuge, Willocq chose to recreate the testimonies of children displaced by conflict. Rather than simply photographing his subjects in situ in the refugee camps of Tanzania and Lebanon where he found them, he decided on an innovative, theatrical treatment.
“I wanted the overall feel to be colourful, naive and surreal, so that the audience may look at them without apprehension despite