Maija

This series entitled Maija is an ongoing study of the relatively new youth subculture, age 8-12, known as “Tween Culture.” Over the past ten years, this popular culture has exploded with retail chains, magazines, music and television directly marketed to this impressionable group. This photo project explores the life of one 11-year-old girl as she navigates through her adolescence and struggles to discover who she is and where she fits in. Intended as metaphors, personal objects reveal her connection to this culture and her willingness to accept and be persuaded by it, while cropping in the camera allows a subtle anonymity.