Young Child

Young Child—a small human figure at the earliest stage of life, as yet unformed by the mountain world but already existing within it—is one of Azechi's rare childhood subjects, his focus otherwise almost entirely on adults shaped by the alpine environment. The young child in the mountain context was both vulnerable and already beginning the process of learning the terrain that would define their life if they grew up in the mountain community he documented. His bold simplified rendering gave the small figure the same formal dignity as the experienced climber.