I designed and published People Who Come For Our Children, in 2021. The book is a remix of various works that have fallen out of copyright, particularly 1940s book, People Who Come to Our House, and sheds light on the all-too-common ways that children are sexually groomed in American Society.
People Who Come For Our Children
Year: 2021
Medium: 20-page 5.5” x 8.5” book printed on bicentennial card stock with a saddle stitch binding.
Conception: The idea for this book first arose in 2019, when the Catholic Church released a list naming thousands of priests guilty of sexually abusing minors. At the time, I felt that this represented a massive change in the church and would inspire more conversation about child sexual abuse and grooming only to be disappointed when the news quickly fizzled out. When I later came across the 1940s book, People Who Come to Our House, which had fallen out of copyright due to old age, I found it echoed the common and deeply harmful ways American children are groomed and, decided to remix the book into a reflection on our children and the ways we fail to save them.
Making: I started with the book, People Who Come to Our House, which is an illustrated children's book following two kids who have many people visit their house, such as the delivery man and the uncle. I scanned the original text and art from the book, and reworked the imagery in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. The final détournement breaks down the original children’s book, placing the seemingly harmless ways our children are raised into a much harsher light, highlighting harsh truths, and incorporating statistics about child molestation and sex trafficking.
Impact: I designed and printed this book to show the truth about common ways we tend to groom our children for sexual abuse and trafficking, from making them hug “The Uncle” when they don’t feel comfortable, to ignoring the strange words of “The Delivery Man” when he makes them feel unsafe, to trusting “The Father” when he says what he’s doing is righteous. The book, while uncomfortable, brings a nuanced awareness of a very complicated and painful issue.
Legacy: The book was showcased at the 22nd Thatcher Gallery Annual Exhibition at the University of San Francisco and is a part of the permanent collection at the Prelinger Library. I dedicated this work to myself, because I've been a Saturday Child.
