Friday, March 8, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.
In one photo, a smiling family holds on to clay jugs.
In another, a family is lost among stacks of electronic gadgetry.
Families worldwide are the subjects of the photo exhibit "Material World: A Global Family Portrait," on display through May 12 at Lied Discovery Children's Museum.
"Material World" began four years ago as a project by 16 of the world's foremost photographers who traveled to 30 countries around the world to live with families. Each family was handpicked for being statistically average for that country.
The photographers lived with the families for one week. They sat down to dinner each night, played with the children, followed the parents to work and otherwise studied the family.
At the end of the week they asked each family to move its material items to their front lawns -- from furniture to the family pet -- as an example of what they hold dear.
"It's fascinating to look at who we are by looking at what we own," Emily Newberry, education director for the museum, said.
The photographs put human faces on the issues of population, environment, social justice and consumption, Newberry said.
In every photo there are shoes, "tons of shoes," Newberry said.
"But in some, especially countries where residents may not need a lot of shoes, they have only one, simple pair. Other families have piles of shoes. It's a difference in the way we live that we don't think about."
Diagrams and detailed descriptions accompany the photos to point out interesting similarities -- or differences.
"There are a lot of animals in a lot of the photos with the families," Newberry said. "But in some countries the animals are pets. In other countries they're dinner."
While the photographers wrapped up their project in 1998, many also photographed a mundane but necessary item that was found in every home -- the toilet.
"We all use them, and it's remarkable the differences in that one thing from country to country," Newberry said. "This exhibit is about all that we have and value no matter where you live."
The project has grown since its 1998 inception. The exhibit includes the work of two female photographers who returned to 20 families in 2000 to photograph the women at work, play and at home.
"The women were documented on how they felt about marriage, children," Newberry said. "There is so much depth to the exhibit and the way that people live around the world."
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