New Zealand Photographer Documents Children Growing Up Without Modern Electronics

New Zealand mother Niki Boon, who raises her children without modern electronics, is capturing their stripped down childhood in an ongoing photo series ‘Childhood in the Raw’.

“We haven’t had TV since the eldest was an infant. So they don’t know what life is like with a TV and likewise with electronic devices,” said Niki Boon.

“I started like all devoted mothers do, with [taking] photos of our babies to document who they become as they grow,” she said.

“But I think it was our decision to educate our children alternatively that documenting them took on a whole new direction and meaning for me.”

The series features poignant black and white photos of her children playing on their 10-acre property in the Marlborough region of South Island, New Zealand.

The family does own some day-to-day appliances and a computer for convenience, but uses books and other resources to find information out and “a lot of their learning is done hands-on in their environment”, according to Boon.

“Electronics are in their lives by default, living in the world we have these days, but we encourage our children to turn their natural curiosities to the riches of tangibles like books, the outdoors, nature and our immediate environment as a whole,” she said.

Article Source: ABC News, Joi-Marie McKenzie, April 17, 2016

Image Source: Facebook – Nikki Boon