It started with a photo in a park.

We were enjoying the last moments we would spend together because soon, I would be hospitalised. We didn’t know how it would go or how long I would be there. So, to capture that moment that was so precious to us, Noé took out his camera. That’s how this series began. Photos that tell the story of our little moments in life, our friendship that deals with an unstable illness, sunny days and rainy ones, melting in the garden in one of his mother’s dresses or in pajamas with his sister, Natacha, on their couch. Five years have passed, and the photos testify to our evolution, to our lives changing, and the new people we meet. It’s the story of a journey, of our story, Noé and mine.

A friendship that has lasted through the years and is stronger than an illness that could have torn us apart.

Héloïse, March 2025

ALL CHILDREN GROW UP is an ongoing photographic project that presents the relationship between Noé Znidarsic and his friend Héloïse, who suffers from anorexia. The title borrows its words from the opening line of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie “All children grow up, except one.” It speaks of an inevitable passage, of the fragile and sometimes brutal movement from adolescence to adulthood. What began as a way to spend time together during a half-year admittance at a center for people with eating disorders gradually became a space through which their connection could continue to exist and evolve.

Over the past few years, the images have accumulated into a personal archive shaped by the presence of the illness and its impact on their daily lives. The act of photographing became a way to remember both ups and downs, while witnessing how the face and presence of a loved one can change through them. The images contain a curiosity about this transitional phase from adolescence to adulthood, marked by an imbalance between the intensity of emotions and the ability to regulate them. A moment of life when identity begins to take shape, when one experiments with different versions of oneself, within an uncertain temporality that stretches far beyond childhood without yet reaching adulthood. The work is not shy about how personal it is and the immense impact such an eating disorder can have on a relationship during this period.

Anorexia is ever present, influencing every daily aspect in the life of the ones who have it and those who surround them. This photographic testimony of Héloïse and Noé’s friendship shows an intimate perspective on the disorder, attempting to create a deeper and pierce through the many stereotypes that surround it. The viewer is invited to experience times of fragility with them, but not without also learning about hopeful times, times of recovery, and most importantly, time spent together.