On These Magic Shores

Most of us have memories of the games that we played as children. You will often hear the romantic recall of days gone by when children played freely in the street. This is reflected in the images made during the 20th century which feature children playing outdoors in a time before digital gaming and the implications of pictorial consent.

On These Magic Shores is a project exploring the spaces in which children play in Hampshire (UK). I’m interested in how play has changed as, particularly, we move forward after the pandemic. It is not unusual to move through urban spaces with no sign of how or where children are playing. Green spaces can be eerily quiet where once groups of kids would hang out. This project is a ‘snapshot’ of how and where children are playing today, an exploration of play indoors and outside, play organised by adults or children, children playing in groups or alone. Children experience their communities through play and I hope to show their relationship to their immediate environments.

75% of children’s play now takes place inside their own homes and gardens. Children are less likely to engage in play unsupervised by an adult and to be given the freedom of outdoor spaces in their immediate communities. The health benefits associated with outdoor, and unsupervised play are numerous. The rise of digital play amongst all age groups has permanently altered the landscape and this was further emphasized as a whole generation of children were forced to play in isolation over the Covid Pandemic of 2020.

These images show the first phase of this project, showing young people relating to their environments and engaging in outdoor play.