The Child Labour Exhibition | معرض عمالة الأطفال
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This design activism project addresses child labour in the 19th century through a zine created from archival images of that era. By reworking historical visuals,
the project raises awareness of how child labour was once visible and extreme, and how it still exists today in more hidden forms. The zine uses design as a tool to connect past and present, encouraging reflection on ongoing exploitation.
An original character was designed to move through the zine,
guiding the viewer and allowing them to witness the unfairness of child labour through storytelling and visual experience rather than direct explanation.
The project resulted in an A6 zine accompanied by an A4 poster.
The character in the zine represents a working child and was intentionally designed with a potato sack covering the head to remove any clear gender identity, emphasizing that child labour affected both boys and girls equally.
The character carries both a paper bag and a basket of flowers, symbolizing different forms of labor associated with different genders. The use of bright yellow in the character’s design represents hope, resilience, and the possibility of change, contrasting with the harsh reality of exploitation.
collected archival photographs from the Library of Congress to ensure the visuals reflected the historical reality of child labour in the 19th century.
I utilized both typographic and Polaroid-style images throughout the designs, incorporating the character alongside them. The text was made bold and “on-your-face” to confront the viewer, with each sentence taken from authentic historical sources, including real quotes and statements made at the time about child labour.
A4 poster
A6 zine
“A Childhood Stolen” brings together history, design, and narrative to shine light on the hidden struggles of children, past and present.
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