The Legacy of Janusz Korzcak
Artist: Racquel C. Wallace
“Children are not people of tomorrow, they are people today.” - Korczak
My work makes a connection between the mind, the body and the home; it also revisits the various spaces where children may live. Many children have numerous homes; each home has created an unique experience that has affected their way of living and thinking. For this project, I decided to recreate a pair of shoes that I wore when I was five years old; this age was a key point in Korczak’s life as well as mine. These shoes make a direct connection between Korczak and his beliefs. In this piece, the shoes create a picture of what a young child endured in their young life; this piece is also a representation of my belief that your environment is responsible for the paths that you choose to travel. Korczak’s orphanage started a movement of reversing the negative affects of childhood abandonment and making others around him aware of this problem. Essentially, I feel that adults often forget how they feel as children and the places where they feel; my work is an affirmation of these places and feelings.