A child’s bedroom is the very definition of home to her. It is where she sleeps, where she keeps her belongings and where she formulates her hopes and dreams.


This intimate space fascinated photographer James Mollison, who documented children around the world and the places in which they sleep for his book, Where Children Sleep.


From wealthy children with rooms full of toys to poor children with nothing more than a rug on the dirt floor, the images cover the full range.


Mollison photographs the children away from their rooms and in front of a neutral background. In this way, he removes them from their natural contexts and places each one on level ground with one another.


But it is the bedrooms pictured next to the children that inspire heartache. The rooms chock full of toys are in some ways just as moving as the sparse and barren chambers.

Continue reading below
Our Featured Videos

These small cross sections of children’s homes are merely a tiny glimpse into the varied conditions encountered every day by kids all around the world. But they are touching, beautiful and enlightening in a way that mere words can never be.