An olive-skinned boy glares ominously, pointing a toy plane towards twin building-block towers — one with a gaping hole, burning with construction paper fire, as toy soldiers fall to the playroom floor.

A boy on a box, covered in a black cloak and hood — his fingers wired with electrodes. A nearly-nude handcuffed boy, eyes screaming in terror as a stuffed dog wraps around his waist.

Abu Ghraib, 9/11 — meet the playroom.

A new series of controversial photographs from artist Jonathan Hobin, called In the Playroom, brings the headlines into the supposedly safe, carefree space of childhood playtime.

“I want people to acknowledge the fact that kids see the scariest things that are out there,” said Hobin of the exhibit, which among other notorious events, includes depictions of Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 tsunami, and the murder of JonBenét Ramsey.

Hobin, who studied photography at Ryerson, said the photos are intended to tear down to illusion that, in a media-saturated world, children can be sheltered.

“I want people to acknowledge the fact that kids see the scariest things that are out there,” he said. “If you see it, they see it.”

The 30-year-old’s work has been praised by art lovers who have flocked to the Dale Smith Gallery in Ottawa since the exhibit opened on Sept. 17.

But critics have vilified it.

Hobin says he’s been called everything from a pervert to someone with a prejudice against twins. (His portrayal of 9/11 is called “the Twins.”)

“They see the photographs and think it was just hours of me screwing with these kids’ minds,” Hobin said of the bloggers and tweeters who have voiced concerns over his work. “But the kids just had a lot of fun.”

The photos sparked a fierce debate between artistic licence and the taboo of using children in such controversial images on a popular blog called The Bad Moms Club.

Catherine Connors, a former academic and expert on mothering issues who runs the blog, argues that kids shouldn’t be having fun depicting scenes from Abu Ghraib.

“The original images and events are already shocking and horrifying,” she said. “What does putting children into the context add to that?”

Hobin said he’s surprised by the negative reaction toward parents who let their kids pose for the series.

“These are proactive, considerate parents, who had to think about what I was doing,” he said.

Richard Verreault’s 7-year-old son Justin posed for “A Boo Grave,” modelled after the Abu Ghraib prisoner torture at the hands of U.S. military police personnel.

He’s the small boy, handcuffed in his underwear, screaming with big, terror-filled, brown eyes. Verreault said that his son, who is a professional child model, was undaunted by the morbid set.

“It was work, and he was there to do the shoot,” he said. “He had a good time — and he got to eat a few lollipops.”

At first Amanda Etherington had mixed emotions about allowing her kids Caleb, 5, and Skylar, 7, to appear in the photos.

“We decided, at the end of the day, that really and truly what Jonathan is doing is art,” Etherington said. “It’s really subjective. And you’re either going to have people who get it, or people who don’t.”

Etherington’s children appear in “Spring Break” — a depiction of the unsolved disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway from Aruba in 2005.

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“Skylar is being buried in the sand,” she said. “What kid hasn’t played that at the beach?”

Etherington says she knows people will think she’s a bad mother for letting her kids be in the photographs. (Caleb also appears in “Seal Heart”, a depiction of Governor General Michaëlle Jean eating a seal’s heart).

“I’d love it if I could change everyone’s mind,” she said. “But that’s not going to happen.”