Throughout the years of 2000-2003 the artist Nicolai Howalt followed young Danish boys boxing their first match
Through double portraits before and after the match, Nicolai Howalt conveys boyhood, puberty and the loss of innocence. Within the scope of boxing, Howalt examines the personal fight between fear and courage, dream and reality, boy and man. In the boxing ring, the boys are left to themselves, being on their own for the first time. Photographing them before and after their first match becomes an exploration of the tantalizing moments in a young man’s life, and thus an exploration of adolescence and rites de passage.