“Smoking Kids,” an exhibition by photographer Frieke Janssens, confronts the persistence of smoking as a cultural status symbol by using child models posing with cigarettes. Although cigarettes were not allowed on the premises of Janssens’ photo shoots and her subjects, aged 4 through 9, held fake cigarettes made from cheese, incense and candles, the images highlight the normalization of cigarette smoking and its glorification as a hallmark of the retro aesthetic. Combining child models and vintage imagery, the show prompts audiences to consider what smoking has meant in the past and what it will become in the future.

Whereas today’s common notion of smoking is largely shaped by awareness campaigns about the negative health effects of nicotine and tobacco, “Smoking Kids” evokes memories of the seduction and status that were once associated with the habit. It wasn’t so long ago that smoking was acceptable in planes, restaurants and hotels. As governmental bans on smoking become widespread, cigarettes have taken on a seductive retro aesthetic. And questions if the growing ban on smoking is effective at convincing us to overcome the habit or if it is simply rendering the ritual more forbidden, thereby feeding its retro appeal. By placing a ban on smoking, are governments treating smokers like children?

Though our society is far more cognizant today of the serious health consequences of smoking and tobacco use, the idea of smoking as a hip, vintage ritual remains, romanticizing the practice even as we condemn it. By addressing the image of smoking through the innocence that we attach to childhood, Janssens’ work visualizes this social contradiction. But most important the series isolates smoking out of it's "Western" and adult context, because a kid smoking is still a common context in many countries, like the YouTube video about the chain smoking Indonesian toddler. After many rough ideas, this video gave the final meaning to start the series.