“I FEEL SORRY FOR YOUR CHILDREN” the sexualization of innocence in america
photographic works by wyatt neumann
For Takota and Stella
“These compelling images of children, taken by their father, have been scrutinized and censored by conservatives who deemed them pornography. Along with the images will be the statements made by these people, people who hide behind the cloak of Internet, attacking real people from behind a veil of anonymity. This work unintentionally documents censorship in the Information Age, an issue we are just beginning to understand. Just as the film “The Americans” documented an era through the lens of a cross country journey that posed questions about a shift in our values, so does this work in today’s internet driven society.” –KP Lawless, Safari Gallery NYC
I am a licensed clinical social worker and I work with abused children and adults every day. I have listened to children tell me about their parents selling them for sex to buy drugs, about parents who locked them away in closets for hours at a time without food or water because they wouldn’t stop crying, about parents who beat their children to within an inch of their life, just for being a child. Wyatt, you clearly hold yourself to a higher esteem than those people, but I don’t. You are no better than they are. The whole thing is sickening and I FEEL SORRY FOR YOUR CHILDREN. -”TitWitch”, April 26, 2014 12:32pm
“I FEEL SORRY FOR YOUR CHILDREN” the sexualization of innocence in america
In the Spring of 2014, a hyper puritanical, neo-conservative group launched a cyber attack on the photographic works of Wyatt Neumann, specifically, photographs of his children. Shutting down his Facebook, his Instagram, and attempting to shut down his website, they went as far as starting a webpage about him and his seemingly “perverse” images. Within these pages are many of the comments made about Wyatt and his photography, including baseless claims of his being a “child pornographer, and a pervert,” as well as his friends being people just “waiting around for a chance to get five minutes alone with his children.” Fearing legal backlash, many of the worst statements were redacted, but the vitriol, and their agenda, was clear: Get Wyatt Neumann’s photographs off the Internet. What started it all? A road trip with his 2 year old daughter, Stella. Having traveled tens of thousands of miles over the past few years taking photographs, or ‘Notes From The Road’ as he catalogues them, he took a rare opportunity and some free time to share with his daughter the joys of the ultimate American obsession, the cross country road trip.
the sunset setting over colorado, leading us into kansas.
Alright, this fool needs his own thread. (@wyattlevi on instagram) If you’re new to this, basically he’s a dadtographer traveling the US with his young (3 year old?) daughter. Had some pervy pics on his account (naked child on highway, bathroom-using naked child, topless with hands down pants child). [We] reported some of the shocking pics and got his IG shut down. The pictures that were removed were disturbing. -”tunawhiskers”, April 25, 2014 3:53pm
MUTHAFUCKIN’ BRO TOWN. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad
He seems like a dick. I want to puke. The nude photos are gross and disturbing. -�tunawhiskers�, April 25, 2014 4:09pm
me and my cowgirl, rolling on a two lane blacktop‌ straight to glory. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at Town Of Limon)
Not sure if I find him to be a legitimately talented photographer, but he certainly thinks he is. Wyatt, I would like to believe that if you, god forbid, found out a pedophile was found jacking off to naked photos of your kids, you would be horrified. Is that the case? -�Childlike Empress�, April 26, 2014 12:08pm
what you see in the air in the background is dust blowing across the plains‌ #duststorms #notesfromtheroad (at CO/KS Border)
I mean, personally, I think the idea of traveling cross country with your little girl taking pictures of all the cool places that exist in this country is a great idea. But may I suggest pants? They are an awesome invention that keep pervs from seeing your children naked. He does have a beautiful wife, but they are idiots. -�dirtclod�, April 25, 2014 8:53pm
middle of kansas, looking for a diner and a motel, all we found was this gregory crewdson photograph.
Why are there SO MANY nude pictures of that little girl on a public blog…? Not that I would be ok with even *one* picture of MY toddler floating around online, but the sheer number that he’s posted is baffling. A good number of them are voyeuristic and creepy… Girl with her hands down her pants, girl squatting on potty out in the open, naked girl in the bathtub, smiling between daddy’s spread legs… I’m not a prude, but WHAT. THE. FUCK. -”Peak Beard”, April 25, 2014 4:18pm
sorry we party. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at my Aunt Margaret’s House)
Parents bathing with their kids? I just hope he was wearing a swimsuit. -”snarkcrack”, April 26, 2014 12:40am I’m sure his excuse is, “My kids like to be naked.” Which is fine, but again: PEDOS CAN EASILY FIND THESE PICTURES AND JACK OFF TO THEM. The thought of that makes me sick. -”Lloyd Christmas”, April 25, 2014 4:25pm
in 1972, after local ranchers and forest rangers shot my dad’s dog and torched their commune, my father worked out a deal with the owner of the Alma Hotel in Alma, CO to live there, along with some other displaced hippies, in exchange for upkeep and managing the property. My mom and dad then successfully ran the hotel as a de facto commune through the winter of ‘72-‘73. My dad did all the carpentry and maintenance and my mom cooked for travelers and wayward souls… I was an infant, but being there today still felt nostalgic for some reason. I’m glad I got to share this small piece of my history with little stella… #dadlife #notesfromtheroad
This strikes a very deep chord for me, one that I cannot begin to share online and barely share it with my therapist. Wyatt and Wyatt’s wife: you are harming your children in real time. -”o_O”, April 26, 2014 5:34pm
hoppin’ ghost trains... #dadlife (at South Park, CO ghost town)
Wyatt, you realize that your little girl is no doubt on several pedophile ring sites now, right? -�LaceyLaPlante�, April 26, 2014 2:14pm
PET CEMETARY #MonsterNichols
It makes me sick. This man has zero (ZERO) care or concern when it comes to sheltering her from perverts. No effort has been made whatsoever. Instead he basically offers her up on a silver platter for whatever creep that comes along. -�Peak Beard�, April 25, 2014 4:27pm
stella, in her happy place. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at West Telluride)
When these kinds of people are parents, I get all ragey and get an itch to adoptallthekids. I hope someone reports him to CPS. -�The Face of Avian Bone Syndrome�, April 25, 2014 4:41pm *note: CPS is Child Protective Services
stella and I, heading for the stronghold. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at Navajo Nation, AZ)
This guy is fucking gross. Sure pedophilia has been around forever but FOR FUCKS SAKE, this guy is just laying it all out there for pedophiliacs. Like a dick offering a recovering alcoholic a beer, he is just giving pictures OF HIS LITTLE GIRL to pervs… it’s gross. He needs to stop. He’s an attention seeking fuck. Wake up, Wyatt, you fucking piece of shit. -”SelenaKyle”, April 26, 2014 8:59am
stella just informed me that she is to be referred to from here on as “princess stella.” …ooookay then. anyway, we’re heading into the mountains and out of service for a while. have a nice day, everyone! #dadlife
One photo where his daughter was crouched naked on the highway in the middle of the desert, looking like a feral cat. The look on her face is disturbing. -�Lloyd Christmas�, April 26, 2014 7:12am
here you go: a not-so-rare sighting of not-so-elusive wild stella in her not-so-natural habitat. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at Navajo Nation, AZ)
This guy makes me weep for all of humanity. What is wrong with the world when a guy like this gets to be a parent, while other people struggle with infertility? -�Expecto Patronum�, April 25, 2014 9:23pm
last one for the night: sunset as we forged into kansas. It was‌ breathtaking. goodnight, y’all. #notesfromtheroad (at Kansas Kountry Inn)
This work is like that other child pornographer Sally Mann. Hey Wyatt: You’re an idiot. Get your head out of your ass. -”Jalapenos & Beef Pork”, April 26, 2014 12:54pm
Stellar door. #dadlife
Naked children on the internet? I DON’T GET IT. This honestly makes me wonder if they are just honestly that stupid, or if they’re actually intending to, literally, pimp out their children to the many, many, many pedos online. -”essadee”, April 26, 2014 6:09pm
As the sun sets slowly in the west, I bid you goodnight. #notesfromtheroad (at Navajo Nation)
I don’t think narcissistic parents care much about the rights of their children, do they? The child only exists as an extension of the parent, a mirror in which he can see his “greatness”. -”ativan annie”, April 26, 2014 8:13pm
I stayed up late last night making little poem clues for stella for our early morning motel room easter egg hunt. now it’s dueling tooth brushing time, then back on the road! #dadlife
Is it necessary to take the pooping pictures? What the hell is that about? What. The. Hell. So gross. -�patriciaalexandra�, April 25, 2014 11:25pm
more photos later but we killin’ it out here‌ #notesfromtheroad
It’s not just his daughter he’s exploiting, either. He has one of his son where he’s throwing him up in the air, naked, with his penis flying. -”Lloyd Christmas”, April 25, 2014 5:24pm
Swan Song. #dadlife
Every good thing you are and every good thing you do is cancelled out by the fact that you exploit your children. You truly have no right to do this to them. -�skeptical girl is skeptical�, April 26, 2014 1:55pm
everything good in the world lives within the eyes of my children. #dadlife
These children will someday be brought to their knees, in shame, in horror, in fear, that their naked bodies were and are masturbatory material. -�skeptical girl is skeptical�, April 26, 2014 7:38pm
always take the long way home‌ #dadlife
This guy is a class A dick. -”Expecto Patronum”, April 25, 2014 10:01pm
what’s a kid supposed to do in a motel while daddy catches up on a little work…? why, get nudie and jump on the bed OBVIOUSLY. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at Kansas Kountry Inn)
The kids poses are deliberately suggestive… the mother must be an idiot. -”BLOWJOB PIG”, April 26, 2014 6:18am
mornings are for dance parties. #notesfromtheroad
What a disgusting father. -”WTF”, April 26, 2014 10:20am
baby gets what baby wants… in this case it was barbeque, which she’s been asking for all day. (“dinosaur food, daddy!” – a reference to our neighborhood spot in harlem, dinosaur bbq) #dadlife (at Ricks Smokehouse and Grill)
Jackass. -”LaceyLaPlante”, April 25, 2014 9:05pm
daddy’s hotel room nail salon is now open for business… yesterday I promised stella that I would buy her nail polish so today we went to the store and she picked out “forever pink” (of course) and tonight I did the honor. nails done and hotel hair dryer to set that shit. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at Terra Haute, Indiana)
He posted a picture of her with her dress lifted up showing off her panties. What an absolute piece of shit. -”Hipster Lullaby”, April 26, 2014 2:24pm
Stella and I are back on the road and it’s a beautiful day‌ #dadlife #notesfromtheroad
Panty pictures of little girls are very popular with pedos. Way to serve your daughter up on a plate, sicko. I will be sure to email you directly when I find this image being traded on the deep web, Wyatt, you sick fuck. -�your mirror lied to you�, April 26, 2014 10:27am
The Princess of the Truck Stop #dadlife #notesfromtheroad
Those pictures you took? Not so innocent. Let me tell you: your daughter is going to be pissed when she is 15 and the FBI calls her, because her own father made it happen. I feel really sorry for her on a personal level. I’m done wasting my time on you, your brain obviously doesn’t touch your spinal column. -”Peak Beard”, April 26, 2014 1:51pm
JUNKYARD DAWG. Someone broke our rearview mirror in the parking lot last night so what did we do? We went on a scavenger hunt‌ #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at Bricklayer’s Auto Salvage)
He’s such a passive aggressive little diva. #dadlife? More like #douchelife -”chillivanilli”, April 26, 2014 2:40pm
definition of true happiness: driving down the highway with all the windows rolled down, cranking “out of the blue” by julian casablancas and singing at the top of my lungs to my screaming and giggling baby girl… ❤️❤️❤️ #dadlife #notesfromtheroad
This man is a sick fuck. Why in the world would you do this to your child? Great job, Wyatt Neumann. That poor little girl… -”Ships Go Overboard aka It Burns”, April 26, 2014 6:23pm
stella thought the fields blowing and waving in the wind was water so I stopped and took her down to see what it was and let her touch it. she got cold so I put her in my sweatshirt but she was still cold and I’m pretty sure right here she’s giving me the finger. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at Kansas Kountry Inn)
I’d be really uncomfortable knowing some online random was was masturbating over a photo of me. I’m fairly confident Wyatt wouldn’t be thrilled to know a stranger was masturbating over nude pictures of him or his wife. This is where Wyatt loses me – in order to parent with a “free will” he has no problem with random online men and women masturbating over his small son and daughter’s photos? -”Snark Sans Frontiers”, April 26, 2014 8:08pm
Momentoes. #notesfromtheroad (at Truckstop Ministries, Inc. Flying J Spiceland, IN)
This guy is fucking gross. Sure pedophilia has been around forever but FOR FUCKS SAKE, this guy is just laying it all out there for pedophiliacs. Like a dick offering a recovering alcoholic a beer, he is just giving pictures OF HIS LITTLE GIRL to pervs… it’s gross. He needs to stop. He’s an attention seeking fuck. Wake up, Wyatt, you fucking piece of shit. -”SelenaKyle”, April 26, 2014 8:59am
super long day. pushed through, thinking she’d fall asleep. she didn’t. this shot is her pure joy driving through the tunnel into pittsbugh, which we turned around and did three times at her request. after this, however, she melted down completely and then basically only fell asleep right as I pulled into the hotel driveway… #typical #dadlife #notesfromtheroad (at The Lamplighter)
This man and his brainless wife are clueless, pure and simple. He doesn’t react like a normal father would. He is disgusting. She is disgusting. They are negligent and I pray to God that their children are taken away from them before one of his “fans” manages to get their paws on one of them. -”NamelyThis”, April 26, 2014 4:03pm
#dadlife also means getting up at 4am and remembering you forgot about your daughters dress, then getting up and hand-washing it in the sink and hanging it to dry so she can be a “so, so pretty princess� all day tomorrow on the last day of our epic road trip.
I doubt she’ll ever be in a real school, have any real friends, or develop any real attachments to anything because that would be counterproductive to the isolation her parents probably want to keep her and her brother in. I’ll bet the only people they’re around are their parents “like-minded” adult friends, a healthy portion or which are probably pedophiles that they’re too blind to see are right there waiting to get their children alone for five minutes. -”NamelyThis”, April 26, 2014 12:47pm
Our last full day on the road comes with a sad pain in my heart. It’s hard to describe how freeing and calming and fun and carefree this last week has been. If anything, it’s reinforced my desire to travel more with my kids and spend each day with them like it’s an endless adventure. #dadlife #notesfromtheroad
I’m not convinced he loves his kids at all. -”gomifriend”, April 28, 2014 12:47pm
Here’s to a better, more interesting America. Have a nice day. #dadlife
Artist Statement: This show, and this work, details a stark contrast between two very different ideologies and world views in both America and abroad. One is open minded, proud and expressive. Unafraid. The other is far more conservative; a point of view bent on shame, and the manipulations of people’s freedoms based on subjective will. What’s troubling is the abject reviling of the human body, the intense and overt sexualization of the natural human form, especially the naked bodies of carefree young children, who have yet to feel the burden of institutionalized body image awareness and the embarrassment that comes with adolescence. My children are free, they live without shame. This comparison of differences in opinion is a timely look at not only the cultural divide in America, but at a culture being dictated more and more on tenets of fear and control. In my photographs, some people see innocence and beauty, while others see only sexual victimization and violence. It’s an interesting lesson in the power of fear and fundamentalism, and the aggression that it can spawn. It’s also a mirror that we can look at and see ourselves looking back. It’s a chance to decide how we want to view the world, and to decide what kind of world we want to create. For ourselves, our futures, and the future we leave for our children. And it’s a chance to see, maybe, what we don’t want to be…
So, the choice seems clear: do we live in fear and condemnation? Or do we celebrate one another, and ourselves, in this life? I choose to believe in our ability to fight fear with love, ignorance with understanding, and to unite rather than divide. But you be the judge... Is this pornography, art, expression, or exploitation? It’s up to us to either cower in fear, or liberate ourselves and live. I choose life. Thank you. Wyatt Neumann
GOD BLESS THIS MESS
All work ©Wya, Neumann Published by Ellipsis Pictures