New Threads - Traces of Play

I'm still being encouraged to try new things, new lines or 'threads' to see where they will lead.

'Traces of Play'
5 kids in quarantine

"We are at our most curious and adaptable as children, before our worldview becomes rigid with the weight of experience" (Palumbo 2012).

Fig. 1: Slade 2020.

Fig. 2: Slade 2020.

Fig. 3: Slade 2020.

Fig. 4: Slade 2020.

Fig. 5: Slade 2020.

Inspired by photography such as the work of 

Jesse Burke

Fig. 6: Burke 2012.

In his collection Wild and Precious Burke documents the exploration of his daughter, Clover Lee, particularly in nature.  

Instead of exploring a child's complicated relationship with nature I am exploring my children's relationship to their own environment, isolation in close quarters.  What happen's when play is contained in essentially the 'four walls' of the home.  They begin to explore nooks and crannies previously neglected and soon the Traces of Play are everywhere.  

Julie Blackmon is another photographer who's children based work is described as images of "controlled chaos" (Palumbo 2012).

                                                      Fig. 7: Blackmon. New Chair.

When kids rule in every area of the house, Blackmon explores the rituals of family life, like chaos with a conductor- which is Blackmon herself, being her lens. She uses color and theatrical staging in her semi- autobiographical works reflecting domestic life and the often paradoxical expectations of family life (Palumbo 2012).

Figures 1-5. Bren SLADE. 2020. Traces of Play. 

Figure 6. Jesse BURKE. 2012. Wild and Precious [online]. Available at: http://www.wildandprecious.co/about [accessed 4 May 2020].

Figure 7. Julie BLACKMON. New Chair [online]. Available at: https://www.julieblackmon.com/index.cfm [accessed 4 May 2020].

PALUMBO, Jacqui. 2019. '6 Photographers Who Capture Childhood.' Visual Culture. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-6-photographers-making-powerful-work-childhood [accessed 4 May 2020].