Not all kids play in the same 'Playground'
12/07/2015.
by James Mollison
metalocus, SILVIA BATRES
metalocus, SILVIA BATRES
In conjunction with the publication of the book Playground, featuring photographs by James Mollison, Aperture Foundation presents an exhibition of the series. Mollison’s photo projects are defined by smart, original concepts applied to serious social and environmental themes. For Playground, Mollison photographed children at play in their school playgrounds, inspired by memories of his own childhood and interested in how we all learn to negotiate relationships and our place in the world through play.
James Mollison, Playground. Kroo Bay Primary, Freetown, Sierra Leone.. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Inglewood High School, Inglewood, California. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Utheim Skole, Kårvåg, Averøy, Norway. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Dechen Phodrang, Thimphu, Bhutan. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Aida Boys School, Bethlehem, West Bank. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Valley View School, Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Hull Trinity House School, Hull, UK. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Bhakta Vidyashram school, Karhmandu, Nepal. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Seishin Joshi Gakuin school, Tokyo, Japan. Photograph © James Mollison.
James Mollison, Playground. Shohei Elementary School, Tokyo. Photograph © James Mollison.
Various scenes of laughter, tears, and games demonstrate the intense experiences which happen in the playground. For each picture, Mollison sets up his camera during school break time, making multiple frames and then composing each final photograph from several scenes, in which he finds revealing “play” narratives.
James Mollison’s exhibition, Playground, influenced by his own experiences being bullied in the schoolyard, gives us an international look at children at play. These photographs are from rich and poor schools with vastly different resource levels in countries including Bhutan, Bolivia, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, Norway, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. The photographs are accompanied by extended captions that tell of the conditions specific to each school.
Where some children are in classrooms so crowded that they need to climb over desks to move, others play in palace gardens.
The comparison invites us to think about the lives of our world’s children and the obstacles and privileges that influence their growth and ability to succeed. It also reminds us of our similarities as children play in similar ways throughout the world. While serious issues are raised, a fun and interactive element in the exhibition is a Where’s Waldo?-like game where the viewer searches the frame for a particular student illustrated on the image caption. There’s also an immersive (optional) sound component with field recordings of children at play. Playground is a wonderful platform for educational programming, prompting viewers of all ages to discus global diversity, inequality, and bullying.
With photographs from rich and poor schools, numerous middle schools, and some high schools, in countries including Argentina, Bhutan, Bolivia, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Norway, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., Mollison also provides access for readers of all ages to issues of global diversity and inequality.
The photographs will be available through Aperture Foundation. Sales proceeds support the Foundation’s public and book-publishing programs.
A free Teacher Resource is available for immediate download. For more information about Aperture’s educational resources, contact education@aperture.org.
CREDITS.-
Book.- Playground. Photographs by James Mollison.
Foreword.- by Jon Ronson.
Size.- 9 2/5 x 11 3/5 in. (23.8 x 29.4 cm).
Pages.- 136 pages and 59 four-color images.
Cover.- Hardcover.
ISBN 978-1-59711-307-6.
Prize.- $50.00/€42.00.
Dates.- April 2015.
More information
James Mollison
James Mollison was born in Kenya in 1973 and grew up in England. After studying Art and Design at Oxford Brookes University, and later film and photography at Newport School of Art and Design, he moved to Italy to work at Benetton’s creative lab, Fabrica. Since August 2011 Mollison has been working as a creative editor on Colors Magazine with Patrick Waterhouse. In 2009 he won the Royal Photographic Society’s Vic Odden Award, for notable achievement in the art of photography by a British photographer aged 35 or under. His work has been widely published throughout the world including by Colors, The New York Times Magazine, the Guardian magazine, The Paris Review, GQ, New York Magazine and Le Monde. He has also published several books, among them James and Other Apes (2004), The Disciples (2008), and Where Children Sleep (2010).
