End Times

 Jill Greenberg's 'End Times'

Greenberg's ‘End Times’(2006) is a series of photographs featuring a close up of toddlers faces while they were under emotional distress. To get the children to cry, they were offered sweets, then it would be taken away from them. The pieces were titled to reflect Greenberg's frustration with both the Bush administration and Christian Fundamentalism in America at the time.

Greenberg's use of intense lighting in this series of photos makes the photographs of the children seem more like a painting, rather than a photograph because the form of the children are more defined. The photographs are in colour and it seems as if the contrast and brightness of the photos have been increased. The form and shape of the children are quite detailed and are more dominant because of the unnatural lighting applied onto the subject. Greenberg has taken the photograph of the children really close to their faces and has also captured the exaggerated actions and movement of the children as the cry.

Interestingly, these photographs of the children crying dramatically evoke a mood of helplessness because the viewer can't understand why these children look as if they are in such agony, so they feel powerless because they can't empathise or help comfort the child. Considering the fact that it is only a loss of sweets that has caused these children to react so dramatically, emphasises the fact that children are quite sensitive and emotional. Greenberg's message behind these crying children emphasises her frustation with the American president, George Bush Jr. at the time.