It started with a photo in a park.

We genoten van de laatste momenten die we samen zouden doorbrengen, want ik zou binnenkort in het ziekenhuis worden opgenomen. We wisten niet hoe het zou gaan of hoe lang ik daar zou blijven. Om dat moment vast te leggen dat zo kostbaar voor ons was, haalde Noé zijn camera tevoorschijn. Zo is deze serie ontstaan. Foto’s die het verhaal vertellen van onze kleine momenten in het leven, onze vriendschap die omgaat met een onvoorspelbare ziekte, zonnige en regenachtige dagen, smeltend in de tuin in een van de jurken van zijn moeder of in pyjama met zijn zus, Natacha, op hun bank. Vijf jaar zijn verstreken en de foto’s getuigen van onze ontwikkeling, van onze veranderende levens en de nieuwe mensen die we ontmoeten. Het is het verhaal van een reis, van ons verhaal, dat van Noé en mij.

Een vriendschap die de jaren heeft doorstaan en sterker is dan een ziekte die ons uit elkaar had kunnen drijven.

Héloïse, maart 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.