ALL GROWN UP

I originally made this shirt as a statement to my mom, but it became so much more than that. I took an old photograph of myself as a child and put the phrase “I’M NOT A LITTLE GIRL ANYMORE” underneath it and then printed them over top of a shirt I had stamped with a textured teddy bear wallpaper. I originally meant the context to be “hey mom I’m not 5 anymore so you can trust that when I leave the house I won’t be shooting up heroin with someone who is going to abduct me.” What happened was a final product much creepier than I had intended. I ended up with an extremely uncomfortable to look at tiny Eden in a “seductive pose” over top of the phrase “I’M NOT A LITTLE GIRL ANYMORE.” Now that doesn’t look good on my part, but I’m glad it turned out this way. I think this piece speaks volumes about the oversexualization of children in our society. It’s a real problem that makes people really uncomfortable to talk about. But I think we need to talk about it so we can put an end to it. Honestly, though it’s just a really weird t-shirt so try no to think to hard about it.