From Expression to Heritage: Children's Drawing and the Heritagization of Childhood Cultures

This contribution outlines the doctoral research project “Children's Drawing and the Heritagization of Childhood Cultures”, which aims to further develop and promote an international collection of children’s drawings housed at the Fondazione PInAC museum in Rezzato. The collection, comprising over 8,000 expressive drawings from 79 countries, is annually showcased through thematic exhibitions. These works offer a unique platform to recognize and value children's visual expressions, enabling a deeper understanding of childhood experiences across diverse global regions and historical contexts. Children’s drawings, as cultural artifacts, offer invaluable insights into their lived experiences and unique worldviews: beyond interpretation, these works document children’s abilities, interests, and motivations within their societal frameworks. This research emphasizes the role of adults not only in nurturing and facilitating the natural expressive languages children develop but also in managing drawings as part of the cultural heritage of the child. A key focus of the project is addressing the limited involvement of children in decisions concerning their cultural heritage. The research, in fact, advocates for empowering children’s creative expressions while respecting their autonomy and avoiding adult-centric biases that could distort their voices. Thus, proper archiving and cataloguing practices are crucial to preserving children’s authenticity as authors of their own work. Institutions like the Fondazione PInAC play a vital role in recognizing children’s creative outputs as significant historical resources that reveal diverse realities of childhood across time and space. At the present state, the data collected at the museum and during international fieldwork will be analyzed. Findings will inform the doctoral thesis and generate new museum guidelines for future collection and archiving practices.